Hunger Games: Victorious Style
by BraveAtHeart
Summary: The Hunger Games meets Victorious. Who will win?   24 go in. 1 comes out. Kind of an AU universe.
1. The Reapings

**A/N: Hello! So this is my Hunger Games/Victorious crossover. I won't make it OVERLY disgusting with blood and gore. But what's the Hunger Games without blood and gore? **

**So let me say that in the beginning, the gang has no clue who one another are. I think it makes it cooler that way. **

**By the way, let me just tell you the districts right now. Tori is in 1, Jade in 2, Cat in 3, Beck in 4, Andre in 5, and Robbie in 6. This is the 74****th**** Hunger Games, because I want Katniss and Peeta to be in it. **

**Honestly, Katniss, Peeta, and Rue are the only 3 characters from the actual Hunger Games that I want to be in it. So….yeah. **

**Ok, enough. On to the reaping!**

**Tori POV**

I sat in the living room of my house, in my district. I had on a nice and pretty dress, for today was a very important day in the nation of Panem. It's scary, but it's gone on for over 50 years. It's not normal, but everyone is forced to do it by the Capitol.

We call it The Hunger Games.

Long story short, twenty four tributes go in. One comes out alive. We fight to our death.

I am 16, so I only have two more years after this to survive through. I think I have made it for 4 years now, why can't I make it for 2 more?

My mom walked up behind me. She was significantly shorter than me, and starting to look aged and worn. She had a dress on herself, her waist-length hair French braided down her back like mine was. She slipped a blue bow into my hair.

I looked into the mirror. The bones in my neck and shoulders were sticking out, as I wasn't very well fed. Food was scarce around here. My cheekbones were naturally very noticeable, but I happened to notice they were more pronounced now. I sighed.

My older sister, Trina, was getting ready too. She used to be obnoxious and annoying. But after she got called for the Hunger Games last year and her best friend volunteered for her and ended up dying, Trina wasn't as rambunctious. In fact, she hardly talked at all.

That was her last year of being eligible for the Games. She now wore my mom's old dress for the reapings, even though she knew she wouldn't be called anymore.

Trina walked up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. I turned to her, fear in my eyes.

"You'll be ok," she said. She pulled me into a hug and I cherished that moment for as long as possible.

We walked together with my mother out to the reaping.

**Cat POV**

I turned to my brother, fear flooding my eyes as I knew we had to go to the reaping soon. He was too old to be called for the Games, but I wasn't too young. I could easily be called.

"Cat if I could volunteer for you I would…I'd volunteer for anyone…" said my brother, Frankie.

I took a deep breath and nodded. "I know."

I looked in the mirror one last time at my outfit. A simple pink dress, with a small bow in my hair. My hair was braided down my back, just like 99.9 percent of the other girls in all the other districts. There was a few exceptions of people who never braided their hair.

Frankie grabbed my hand, and I looked at him. He had a trace of a tear streaming down his face. He looked scared.

"I'll be fine," I assured him, though I wasn't sure myself.

Hand in hand, we walked to the reaping.

**Jade POV**

I stared blankly in the mirror at my attire for the reaping. It was the 74th Hunger Games, which I had lost my little brother to last year. I promised myself that I would volunteer myself for this Hunger Games for him.

I wore a plain black dress that went down to my ankles. My hair, unlike every other girl's, was not braided. It was simply left hanging, though it was brushed out nicely. It fell to my shoulders in waves.

My dad, the only one who I had left, stood next to me in his nice suit. He hated me with passion as I had not volunteered for my brother last year (because I was too shocked to do anything).

I needed someone to comfort me, tell me things would be ok in there. But I knew my chances were 1/24 in that arena.

I was going to die. But frankly, I didn't care. I just wanted to make my mark, do something to honor my brother Jacob.

My dad's cold eyes met mine as I turned around.

"Let's go," he said simply.

Keeping a great distance, we walked out to the reaping.

**Beck POV**

I walked to the reaping in a daze, afraid I was going to get called. I may seem all "tough" and "fearless" on the outside. But on the inside, these Games are my greatest fear. Why you may ask? Because I watched my brother die in them. And I will never EVER forget seeing that happen live on the television.

I was so tempted to volunteer right away before the name was even called, that is, if I wasn't called. But I was scared, I do admit that. I didn't want to die. But I felt like I needed to, to honor him. My brother.

I was now in the square, ready to go. Ready for the reaping to begin.

_May the 74__th__ Hunger Games begin_, I thought to myself bitterly.

**Andre POV**

I stood in the square of my district, the reaping about to begin. My heart was pounding furiously, and a sheen of sweat coated my face and lips. I had so many slips in that reaping ball; I was surely doomed. There was just no way I could escape it. I was screwed.

Our mayor stepped onto the wooden stage. The normal routine began, where he just read a bunch of stuff.

All the while, I couldn't take my eyes off of that glass ball which held at least 20 slips with my name on them. Not to mention the 5 slips that had my little sister's name on them.

If my sister's name was called, the only thing I could do was volunteer for the boy tribute and try to protect her. how I hated these Hunger Games with a passion. That's what our nation revolves around, and we all know it. How sick that is.

Soon enough, the names were being drawn from the ball.

I glanced down at my sister, a mere 14 years old. She had no training in anything.

The flash of fear in her eyes was unmistakable. I tried to reassure her, knowing it was probably of no use.

"Amelia Harris!"

My heart dropped. I felt all the blood drain out of my face. I couldn't believe what had just happened.

Tears filled my sister's eyes as she looked back at me.

I mouthed to her that I promised to volunteer. She nodded and took a deep breath, then walked onstage.

"And for our male tribute: Jacob Porter!"

Before she could even get his name out, I screamed, "I VOLUNTEER!"

Our "Reaper" as I liked to call her looked over in my direction and smiled a sick, twisted smile at me. She motioned for me to walk onstage.

"And who are you?" she asked me, holding the microphone up to my face.

"Andre Harris," I said. She chuckled.

My sister ran up to me and grabbed my hand.

"Well, wouldn't want her to steal all the glory, huh? I give you the tributes of District 5!" said our reaper.

I knew my life was about to change BIGTIME.

**Robbie POV**

"And the male tribute for district 6 is…Robbie Shapiro!"

I swear the whole world stopped turning. Time froze. Any bodily functions going on with me stopped completely. I couldn't believe a word I had just heard.

But I knew it was true. I was the 74th Annual Hunger Games' District 6 Male Tribute. I was a piece of the Games. I was going to die. I had no choice.

"I'm screwed," I whispered to myself.

I walked up onstage where the female tribute, some girl named Allison, stood next to me.

"I present to you the tributes of District 6!"

My eyes darted around for my brother, the 22 year old man whom I lived with after I lost my parents to a tragic accident long ago.

I finally found him, and his eyes were full of fear. i tried to reassure him, but I knew it was useless.

This was it. I'm done for.

**The Girls' and Beck's POV**

"And the girl/boy tribute is…"

_Please don't let it be me…please don't let it be me…please! _Thought Cat and Tori.

_Calm yourself, Jade,_ Jade thought.

_It'll be ok, _Beck thought.

"Cat Valentine!"

"Tori Vega!"

Both girls walked solemnly up to the stage, in pure shock.

"Jade West!"

_Wow, I didn't even have to volunteer,_ Jade thought bitterly. She walked up to the stage, thinking nothing of anyone or anything at that moment.

"Beck Oliver!"

Beck seemed a bit surprised that he was actually called and didn't have to volunteer. He shrugged slightly and walked up to the stage.

_This one's for you, Tommy, _Beck thought.

They were officially part of the Games.

The Games had begun.

**A/N: So…good? Bad? Terrible? Please review! Another chapter coming tomorrow!**


	2. Goodbye

**A/N: Oh, my gosh. I woke up to 14 NOTIFICATIONS, all about this story. I swear I had a heart attack. That's just…oh my gosh. **

**Well, I'm so glad you liked it! Here's the next one! This is their final goodbyes to anyone they have left. Enjoy!**

xXxXxXxXx

**Tori POV**

This was the day that I said goodbye for good and headed off to my death.

I stood in a room, waiting for my mother and sister to walk in. my heart was racing at about 100 miles an hour, and a clammy sweat covered my palms. I was shaking, and I was starting to give myself a headache above my right eyebrow. I wiped my hands off on my shirt and rubbed at the aching spot on my forehead.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, my mom and sister walked into the room.

I leapt into my mother's arms, fighting back the tears that pricked at my eyes. I knew I was being watched. I couldn't let myself seem vulnerable. It was too risky.

"Stay safe, okay? We'll be with you every step of the way," she said. I sighed and nodded. She pulled back and looked at me with sincere eyes.

"Stay alive," she said, her voice as cold as steel. Not in a bad way though.

"I will," I replied. My mom hugged me once more, turning away afterwards so I wouldn't see her cry.

All it took was one look at Trina and we were both gone. Tears were streaming freely down both of our faces as she took me into her arms.

"I need you to promise me that you will do everything you can to stay alive," said Trina seriously, crushing me against her. I didn't mind though.

"I promise. I swear," I added. My body shook with sobs, and I tried to suppress them but it was hard.

"I just can't lose anyone else," whispered Trina. She held me tight and closed her eyes.

When she let go, all the security I had in her arms was gone. I felt in danger, exposed to the world. Exposed to the other tributes.

I exchanged one last longing glance with Trina and my mother, and then they had to leave.

I took a deep breath and dried my eyes. I knew what I had to be in these games. I knew what I needed to do.

When I was calmed down, I did one simple act that changed me for these games.

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes gently. I internally let go of everything that might hurt me or make me want to give up. It was almost as if I could feel my blood turning to ice and my bones turning to steel.

And when I opened my eyes, they had a new, cold look in them.

I am Tori Vega. I am 16 years old. And I will stop at nothing to make sure I win these Games.

**Cat POV**

My breathing was staggered and I was sweating like crazy. My heart was pounding and I felt sick to my stomach. I was sure there was not an ounce of color in my face at the moment.

I stood in a quiet room, where I would say goodbye one more time to my brother. I knew this was my last goodbye, because, let's face it, I'm not made for these games. I just can't do this.

My brother finally walked into the room and I ran into his arms, closing my eyes tight.

I was a bit shocked to feel him shaking with sobs, tears pouring down his face.

"It's ok," I whispered, though I knew it was not.

"No its not. I'm not ready to lose you," he cried, knowing just as well as I did that I wasn't going to make it out of these games.

I started to say he wouldn't lose me, but I knew it was pointless.

"I'll fight for you, Frankie. I'll hold out as long as I can," I said. "You'll be the last thing I think of before I die, I promise you that."

Frankie kissed my forehead and held me close.

I was trying so hard not to cry right now. I was shaking from the effort I was putting into it.

"You don't have to be so strong," Frankie said. That broke me.

I sobbed quietly into his chest. Frankie just held on to me and cherished his last few moments with me.

Sooner than I wanted, the people said that Frankie needed to leave. We hugged once more, and he was gone. That was the last time I was ever gonna see my brother, I was sure of it.

I took a deep breath and wiped away my tears. I was going to be strong for him.

I wasn't going to be weak.

**Jade POV**

I didn't even want to say goodbye to my dad. It wouldn't make a difference, and it was altogether kind of pointless. Its not like either of us had anything to say.

So when my father walked into the room, I surprised myself by jumping into his arms, and was surprised even further by the fact that he hugged me back.

"Please win, Jade," my dad said seriously. "I can't lose you too."

"Since when do you care?" I asked.

"Always have, always will. I love you Jade. I know I've been hostile with you since he died, and I'm so sorry…" my dad said. I could swear I saw the hint of a tear in his eye.

I sighed.

"I'll try. And if I die, at least it was worth it," I said. I didn't want to die in vain. I wanted to know that I was dying for him, for my brother.

My dad took me into his arms once more before he left.

When he was ushered out, it took all the strength I had left in me not to burst into tears. I never cry. The only time I did was when my mom died and when my brother died. This feeling was very unsual for me.

I calmed myself down, and soon returned to my normal state. Cold to the core. Bones made of steel. Icy blue eyes piercing anything I look at.

**Beck POV**

It was not until now that I realized I had no one to say goodbye to.

My family was dead. I had no one left.

So when my old best friend, Gale Hawthorne, walked into the room, I was pretty surprised.

See, I used to live in District 12. I don't remember why we moved, well why we were relocated by the Capitol, but I think it had something to do with the fact that my brother was always hunting in the woods with me.

I didn't even know he was allowed to come and see me.

"Oh my God…Gale!" I said, and he embraced me.

"Havent seen you for a while, kid," said Gale, calling me my old nickname. He is older than me, so it makes sense.

I smiled.

"How you been?" I asked him.

"Alright until today. Its harder than I thought to say goodbye to two people you love," he said, giving a half smile at me.

I nodded. "Who else did you say bye to?"

"The District 12 Girl…her name's Katniss. I told her not to kill you no matter what. Please don't kill her. I couldn't stand to watch it…" Gale said, trailing off.

I nodded.

People started telling Gale he needed to leave.

"I'll watch Katniss," I said.

"Thank you. Be careful. I don't want to lose you," said Gale, pulling me into a hug. He was crying.

I couldn't help but start crying too.

Finally Gale walked out of the room, his head bowed low in sorrow.

It was then that I made a commitment to take care of Katniss and watch over her for as long as possible.

**Andre POV**

My sister and I stood quietly in a room together, waiting for our mother and father to walk in.

When they did, I immediately went in for a group hug.

"You'll be alright. You'll be alright," said Dad, trying to reassure all of us.

"Please take care of Amelia. Take care of both of you," said Mom.

When we pulled away from the hug, I was surprised to find tears in my father's eyes. He has never cried in front of me before, so it was a little hard to see him like that.

"It's ok," I said, looking at my dad. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"I'm scared. I don't want to do this!" cried Amelia.

I scooped her up into my arms and held her tight.

"We'll be alright," I promised her. I knew I was never going to leave her side until I died.

We turned back to our parents.

We hugged each other once more, and it was time to say goodbye.

As they walked through that door, I couldn't stop the tears that flowed down my cheeks.

**Robbie POV**

I paced the room I was confined to nervously, my mind racing, head pounding. The people watching me must have thought I was crazy.

When my brother walked in to say goodbye, I immediately leapt into his arms like a little child.

"I cant do this," I managed to wheeze out as tears started to restrict my speech.

My brother's strong arms around me made me feel a little safer, but I knew I was anything but safe at the moment.

"Yes you can," said Arthur (my brother).

"Arthur, look at me. I'm so weak…I can't see without these glasses. I might as well be dead already," I whined.

"What matters is whats inside you," Arthur said, putting his hand over my chest. "You may not be strong, but youre brave at heart. And that's got to count for something."

I took into consideration what he had just told me, and suddenly my confidence soared.

"I'm going to win for you," I said suddenly, surprising myself even.

"That's my boy. You'll be alright," Arthur said. He clapped me on the back and had to leave. I swear I could see him starting to cry.

I wasn't truly ready for this. But I didn't have a choice.


	3. The Training Center

**A/N: Hi there! I decided to skip all the "fluffy" stuff, aka the train ride to the Capitol, the remake center, and all that stuff. I REALLY want to get to the Training Center. So I will. I am going to bring in Katniss's POV now, and maybe Peeta's. Enjoy!**

**Tori POV**

I stood in my training uniform, a gray and reddish track suit type of thing. There was a number one on the sleeves of the t-shirt.

I looked around at the other 23 tributes nervously. Everyone was sort of being really cautious. I remember what my mentor had said; "Just start testing stuff out, find your strengths. Make sure you try everything."

I had always loved archery, thought it was pretty cool, so I headed for the bow and arrow station.

I picked up a light bow that wasn't hard to pull back and started figuring out how to work it. I figured out that you have to use three fingers just below the arrow and pull back to your mouth, then let it go. A few times, the bowstring snapped forward and my arm was in the way, so it snapped onto my arm. That didn't feel too good. I had a couple welts on my arm now from the bowstring. **(A/N: I'm doing archery in gym right now, and I have three beautiful welts on my arm from the bow string snapping onto my arm. Beautiful. -_- Lol but I love archery. K back to the story.)**

After practicing for a while at all the different stations, I found that the bow and arrow was definitely my weapon that I had strengths in. after I got the hang of it, hitting a bulls-eye was almost instinct.

I turned to my left and saw a girl with dark brown hair braided down her back. She had a number twelve on her sleeve. I watched her as she pulled back and hit a perfect bulls-eye.

Feeling my show-off instinct kick in, I pulled back as well and hit a perfect bulls-eye myself, eyeing the girl as I did so.

She caught on to what I was doing and instead of hitting her target, she hit my target. Straight on.

She turned to me and smirked, clearly bragging without saying anything.

I half-smiled.

"Cocky. Nice attitude," I commented, putting my bow on my toes and turning to her.

She smiled herself.

"My name's Katniss. I know this is probably illegal somehow, making small talk with another tribute…" said the girl who I now knew was Katniss. I laughed.

"Oh please. Everything is illegal in the Capitol unless your bowing down to them," I said, rolling my eyes.

Katniss laughed and smiled at me.

I turned and saw a young girl, about my age, with black hair that came down to her shoulders and a number 2 on her sleeves, walk up to the station we were standing at.

She eyed us coolly and picked up a bow and arrow. She wasn't as good as Katniss and I, but she wasn't half bad.

"So…you think the competition's much of anything?" I asked Katniss, rather loudly. The girl from district 2 turned and eyed us again, a bit annoyed.

Katniss noticed.

"Not really. Maybe that girl from District 2 though. She seems tough," she said loudly. "Trust me, she'll be our ally after that."

Something clicked. Katniss said "our" ally.

"So…we're allies?" I asked. Katniss smiled and nodded.

I smiled back.

"Oh yeah. Bet she'll kill me the minute I step into the arena," I said, louder now so district 2 girl could hear.

"You've proved your point," said the girl. She turned to us and put the bow down.

We crossed our arms and faced each other.

"You really think I'd kill you as soon as we got into the arena?" said the girl.

"Pretty much," I said, though I was half-lying. The girl smiled a cocky smile.

"Hmm. Interesting," she said.

"If we're allies, we won't have to worry about that though," said Katniss. She knew exactly what to say.

The girl stopped and considered this for a moment. She shrugged.

"Deal. On one condition," said the girl.

I cocked my eyebrow to show I was listening to her offer.

"You teach me how you shoot this freaking bow," the girl muttered, eyeing it evilly. I couldn't help but laugh.

You know, with other girls who are just as scared as me, it makes it a little bit easier. I think the others agreed.

**Cat POV**

The Training Center scared me. All the other people were so good at what they were trying. I didn't think I could do anything at all.

So, as I walked up to a simple knife station, I was literally shaking. The only other person around me who didn't scare me was a young girl, a twelve year old.

She seemed as scared as I did.

I picked up the knife shakily and aimed it a target.

I was more than shocked when it hit exactly where I wanted it to hit at.

The little girl walked up to me. She was wearing the same outfit as me, only hers had a number 11 on the sleeve rather than my number 3.

"You throw good," she said, her voice quivering.

"Th-thanks," I replied. She nodded.

We stood in an awkward silence for a while.

"Do you think you could teach me how to do that?" she asked me.

I swallowed hard and nodded.

I showed her what I did, and she wasn't half bad at it.

"We should go to the bow and arrow station," said the little girl.

"Why? There's scary people over there…" I said, seeing the girls from district 1, 2, and 12 talking to each other and shooting bows. They seemed like some serious competition.

The little girl took a deep breath and nodded.

Before I realized what she was doing, she dragged me over by the wrist. Soon enough, we were standing shakily by the girls. They were sort of blocking the way to get to the other bows.

I sort of stood there with my head bowed until they noticed.

They moved out of the way without a word, so me and District 11 girl could shoot.

The fear in my eyes must have been evident as I pulled the drawstring back, because after I shot, the three girls acknowledged me and District 11 girl.

"Who are you?" said the girl from District 2. She scared me the most.

"C-Cat Valentine…" I said in barely over a whisper, so that it almost sounded like I was saying Catnip.

"Catnip?" asked the girl from District 12. She had a little smile on her face.

"Cat," I said, louder. She nodded in understanding.

"And you?" said the girl from District 1 to the girl from District 11.

"I'm Rue," the little girl said.

"Pretty name," I whispered. Rue smiled at me.

"Who are you guys?" I asked, my voice getting a little stronger. I put the bow down and completely turned to them.

"I'm Tori," said the girl from District 1, who I now presumed to be Tori.

"Katniss," said the girl from District 12. Now I know why she smiled when she thought my name was Catnip; her name sort of sounded like Catnip.

"Jade," said the girl from District 3.

We stood in an awkward silence, and I stared down at the ground, my heart pounding a thousand miles an hour.

"We all know that honestly, the only two people who are going to easily stay alive are Katniss and Tori. The rest of us are pretty weak, myself included. So why don't we all form an ally? Till be easier in many ways," said Jade, seeming exasperated.

Rue and I considered this, and we both seemed to agree in our minds.

"Okay. Deal," said Rue. I nodded.

I knew somehow this was bad, that it would only end up in tears and sorrow once we started getting killed. One of us, such as Jade, might be plotting this strategically and end up killing us since we trust her. But at that moment, it seemed like the best thing to do. So I went with it.

"My mentor is going to kill me before I get to the arena for this," whispered Tori. We all muttered our agreements.

"Alright, let's get trained up," said Katniss. We were an official team now. We could do this.

We all picked up bows and started training for the weeks to come.

**Beck POV**

I looked all around the room for the District 12 tributes, because I knew Katniss was one of them. I wanted to see who Gale was talking about.

When I didn't find her, I headed over to the strength testing station and started throwing around some maces with ease. Two other tributes looked on at me as I did so.

For some reason it started annoying me, so I sort of went off.

"What are you staring at? I'm not going to do freaking tricks," I scowled at the tributes.

"Nothing! Nothing, um sorry, I'll just uh..I'll go…" said the nerdy looking one. He was legit freaking out.

"You need to calm down, kid," said the other tribute, who was dark skinned and muscular. He looked angry.

For some reason, the use of the word "kid" cooled my temper.

I sighed and angrily threw the mace as hard as I could. I ran my hands through my hair.

I turned to the two tributes I had yelled at to apologize.

"Look…I'm sorry. I'm just on edge," I admitted, knowing somehow this wasn't right. You're not really supposed to "bond" with the other tributes in the training center. This was definitely messed up.

"We all are," said the nerd.

The muscular one sighed.

"Call me crazy, but I have an idea," he said.

"Do tell," I said, my temper still a bit dangerous. He disregarded the anger.

"We'll survive longer if we're working with people," he said. "Just stating the fact."

I took into consideration what he had just said. I glanced back and forth from him to the nerd.

"Allies?" I asked.

"Allies," confirmed the nerd. The muscular guy nodded.

"I'm Andre," he said.

"Robbie," the nerd, who I knew now as Robbie, said.

"Beck…" I said.

"Let's go over to the camouflage station. Not as many people there," suggested Andre. I nodded and followed him.

**Peeta POV**

Since I had no idea really what to start with, I headed to the one place I thought I could do ok with. Camouflage. What helped was that no one was there except me.

Well, until three other tributes came along. One looked so weak that I could snap him like a twig, one looked so muscular I was immediately intimidated by him, and the last one looked so…cruel and cold that I felt a shiver run down my back.

I figured they were coming for a fight. Well a fight they shall get.

I turned to face them as they walked up.

They stopped in front of me.

"Um…do you need something?" asked the muscular guy awkwardly.

I could feel my face turning red.

"Uh…no…I kinda figured you were coming to tear my throat out. You guys are pretty intimidating," I said, then covered my mouth, knowing how stupid that was to say. I made myself easy prey. God, I am so thick sometimes!

The cold and mean guy chuckled.

"It's against the rules. Besides…you seem alright," said the nerdy twig boy.

I half-smiled.

"You good with camouflage?" asked muscle boy.

I nodded. "It's my biggest strength."

"Hmm."

We stood in silence for a while.

"See…the three of us have formed an ally. We'll survive longer with people on our sides. Do you want to be our ally?" asked the nerd.

I took into consideration what having people on my side would mean. I knew eventually we'd have to kill each other if it came down to us, but to start out, it'd be good.

"Sure," I said.

I saw the mean guy staring at the number on my jacket. I was starting to get a little annoyed.

"Just because I'm from District 12 doesn't mean-"

"No, it's not like that," assured mean boy. "It's just…your other tribute from your district. She and I have a mutual friend, Gale Hawthorne…"

I waited for him to continue.

"Please promise me none of you will kill her? I couldn't stand to see Gale have to watch her get killed," said mean guy. So maybe he wasn't as mean as I thought.

"Promise," I said right away. I mean, we were team tributes.

The others promised too.

"By the way, I'm Peeta," I said, reaching out my hand to mean guy. He shook it.

"Beck," he replied.

"I'm Robbie," said the nerdy boy.

"I'm Andre," said the muscular guy.

It wasn't until then that I felt a sense of security. I felt a little better than I had from the start of this.

"Let's start training," said Beck. I started by showing them camouflage.

This was going to be bad in the end, well it could, but to start off with an ally is great.

This was only the start of a long, hard road. I wasn't ready for it yet, but somehow having these people with me made me feel like I could do it.

Nothing can stop us.

Personally, I think that the odds are EVER in our favor.

**A/N: So…do you like this? I thought that the girls and boys forming allies would be really cool. I know it'll be bad in the end, but I did this so that the reactions to deaths (not telling how this ends and who dies) will be more emotionally powerful. See what I mean?**

**Next step: the arena. :3**

**Review! :D**


	4. The Arena Day 1

**A/N: So now the REAL fun begins. I present to you the first part of them going into the arena. I really hope you enjoy this!**

**Ladies and gentlemen, may the 74****th**** Annual Hunger Games begin!**

**Katniss POV**

I sat in the Launch Room, scared out of my mind. Cinna was holding my hand. Somehow that made things seem a lot better.

"I'm so scared…" I whined, looking over at Cinna, resisting the impulse to cry my heart out.

Cinna sighed and tightened his grip on my hand.

"You'll be alright. I'm betting on you," he said.

It was now time to get in my little tube and go up into the arena.

When I let go of Cinna, any sense of security I had was gone. I took a deep breath and walked onto my platform, and the tube came down around me.

I looked at Cinna one last time before I rose to my death. As I headed up, I could have sworn that I saw a tear slide down his face.

**Tori POV**

As I rose into the arena, all I could think was _if I'm going to die, at least save the little girl. _There were two little girls I was thinking of: Rue and Cat. Cat was my age, but she was so scared, so sweet, that it kill me inside to see her die. And Rue…she's only 12. That should explain everything.

I took in my surroundings. I saw a lake to the side, and the Cornucopia was about 20 feet ahead of me. I saw a forest in the distance.

I had about 45 seconds left before the gong rang out. I looked around for my allies. I saw a few of them, and they saw me, too.

I remembered what my mentor said: "Good job at finding allies. Smart move. When it comes to the Cornucopia, just go for it! Watch your back, tell your allies to look too."

30 seconds. I took a deep breath. I had to go into my cold as steel state now.

15 seconds. I looked to my right and saw Jade. She nodded at me, her teeth gritted and her jaw locked. Her cheeks and nose were red as if she were trying so so hard not to cry, like I was.

5 seconds. This is it.

4….3….2…1. The gong rang out, and we ran for the Cornucopia.

I saw Katniss fight for an orange backpack, and the District 9 boy got stabbed in the back. He spit blood in her face. Katniss snagged the bag and ran to me.

I saw a good majority of people fighting, not really focused on the Cornucopia. Cato and some other people were at the Cornucopia already and were on their way.

Jade ran up to me, a sleeping bag, some bread, and a sword in her hands.

"Where's Cat and Rue?" she asked me and Katniss.

We looked around, and we saw them. Rue was running full speed toward us, a knife in her hands. She shoved it into her pants around her waist and ran even faster.

Cat, on the other hand, was running but someone was chasing her.

I looked around for a bow and arrow, and finally found one. I jumped up and grabbed it, loaded it, and sent an arrow straight for Cat's chaser.

**Cat POV**

I started running as fast as I could toward the Cornucopia, where I saw Rue running to the others. I heard heavy footsteps behind me and I knew I was not alone.

I turned and saw the District 8 boy tribute running after me.

I tried to keep running tirelessly towards the others, but he was gaining on me. I knew I was going to die if he wasn't killed beforehand.

Suddenly I saw the girl named Tori send an arrow flying towards us, and I immediately felt betrayal, as I thought she was going to kill me after being my "ally".

Instead, the arrow went through District 8 boy's skull, and I nearly gagged at the sight. But, nevertheless, I continued to run until I reached the Cornucopia.

Jade snagged a knife from the edge of the Cornucopia and handed it to me. I put it in my waistline of my pants like Rue did. Jade also shoved a sleeping bag into my hands. I saw a huge black pack that I was sure would have something useful in it and threw it onto my back.

The 5 of us ran for our lives into the woods. We ran for what seemed like an hour until we found a reasonable place to stay, far from the others.

We fell to the ground, panting hard.

After about 2 minutes, we decided to look and see what we were able to get from the Cornucopia.

Obviously we had our weapons. In the pack I grabbed, there was an extra knife that was huge. Tori and Katniss exchanged weapons.

Anyhow, so in my pack was a lot of good things. A sleeping bag, belt/strap type things, some crackers and bread, iodine, a siphon-type thing, pieces of fabric, and two bottles of water.

The items in Katniss' backpack were a pack of crackers, a pack of dried beef strips, one thin black sleeping bag, a bottle of iodine, a box of wooden matches, a small coil of wire, a pair of sunglasses and a half-gallon plastic bottle that was empty.

"Well this is good to start with," said Rue, who sat next to me.

I nodded and sighed.

**Jade POV**

"So…obviously we're going to have to sleep. I'll take first watch with whoever. Are we going to belt ourselves into the trees?" I asked, thinking it was a good idea.

"Yeah…sounds good. I'll take first watch with you," said Katniss, brushing some stray hair out of her eyes.

No one protested. We were all exhausted, but someone needed to take watch and whoever volunteered could do it. Simple as that.

I took a deep breath and lay back on the ground, my sword clutched in my hand in case anything happened.

"What do we do now?" asked Cat. She sounded scared.

"I don't know…find a source of water maybe?" I suggested.

"Well we have two water bottles…is that going to be enough for now?" asked Tori, shifting her position and wincing as she did so.

"Yeah…should be," I said. I closed my eyes, for my head was starting to pound.

We sat in silence for a little while.

"Is anyone hungry? I can go hunt if you want," said Katniss, breaking the silence.

"I'm sick to my stomach. Couldn't eat if I tried," said Cat. I nodded, agreeing with her.

"Same," said Rue and Tori.

"Good, cuz I don't feel too great either…this whole thing's scaring me too much…" said Katniss.

I sighed as we continued to sit in silence.

**Peeta POV**

Night was starting to fall already. The time in the arena had gone by very fast.

Andre, Beck, Robbie, and I had found a place far off in the woods. We were not at the exact corner of the arena, but I'm pretty sure we were very far away from the others.

We were sitting quietly in the forest, our supplies laid out in front of us. We were waiting for the Capitol seal to show in the sky.

All of the sudden, Andre sat straight up from where he was laying down and started having a breakdown.

"Amelia! My sister! Oh my god, where is she? DON'T LET HER BE DEAD!" he cried out, jumping up and screaming her name.

His screams were interrupted by the Capitol seal.

"Oh god…" he muttered, afraid of what he would see. I was scared too. Of seeing Katniss on the screen. Or that little girl Rue. Or even that girl named Cat.

Only 5 of the tributes died. There was the boy from District 3, the girl from district 4, both from District 7, and the boy from district 8. Thankfully, Andre's sister was still alive.

Andre was still scared.

"Peeta, we have to find her," he said with such urgency that it was scary. I nodded.

Robbie and Beck stood up and followed Andre and I as we ran through the forest in search of Amelia.

**Rue POV**

It had been about 10 more minutes, and us girls were still just sitting here. I was kind of lost. I mean, of course we had to watch the Hunger Games every year, but I always felt sure there was action going on no matter what. In all honesty I was kind of bored.

In the silence, I heard the sound of someone running.

I immediately sat up and looked around. Jade looked at me, and I knew she had heard it too.

"Did you hear that?" hissed Cat. We all nodded.

The running sounds continued, and I grabbed the knife out of my belt and stood up. The others grabbed their weapons as well and stood facing every direction.

Suddenly a young girl, no older than 14, bounded into our view. She screamed as she saw our weapons drawn, ready to shoot.

Scared, she put her hands behind her head and got down on her knees.

"Please don't kill me," she sobbed, already crying as it was. "Please!"

I noticed a huge gash in her leg that couldn't go untreated. I was worried about her.

I guess Katniss saw it too, for she threw her bow on the ground and went to look at the wound.

The girl flinched as Katniss came up to her.

"Shh, its ok. I'm not going to hurt you," said Katniss in a soothing voice. The girl looked up at Katniss and put her arms down, still crying.

Everyone else put their weapons down.

"What happened to your leg?" asked Katniss in her same soothing tone.

"I was running through the woods trying to escape one of the tributes, and he tripped behind me. He threw the knife he had in his hands at me and it hit me in the leg," said the girl, trying as hard as she could to keep her voice steady.

"Ok. Well we'll fix it up," said Katniss. The girl nodded and took a deep breath.

I grabbed a bottle of water out of my pack. Katniss took it and used it to clean out the wound. In the meantime, I went and found some herbs that make it sting less and remove any infection. I gave them to Katniss.

"Chew these up and then apply them to the wound," I said, and Katniss did as I asked without questioning it.

Cat reached into my bag and got out a piece of fabric.

"My brother told me about this thing where you wrap fabric around the wound and then tighten it and keep it in place with a stick, called a tourniquet," she said, picking up a decent stick as she did so and handing it to Katniss.

Katniss nodded and put made a tourniquet on the girl's leg.

The girl sighed with the relief as some of the pain went away from the herbs.

"So, what's your name?" asked Jade, her usually harsh voice unusually soft.

"Amelia Harris," said the girl, who I now knew as Amelia.

**Andre POV**

We continued running until we couldn't move because we were so exhausted. I had given up hope. I didn't think we would find Amelia.

Suddenly, I heard voices.

"What's your name?"

It was a soft voice, yet it had an edge to it. I could tell it was a female voice. I think the others heard it too, because no one moved a muscle.

"Amelia Harris," came the reply.

Without realizing I was running into a group of enemy tributes, I sprung up from my spot in the direction of the voices.

As soon as I stepped into their view, the three oldest girls jumped up and stood in front of Amelia and two other little girls.

Beck and the others soon came to join me. The look on the girl with a bow and arrow's face softened immediately as she saw Peeta.

"Peeta?" she asked, almost in disbelief.

Beck gasped, realizing who she was.

"Katniss…" Beck whispered.

The two other girls' expressions remained cold as steel.

"You touch any of these girls, you die," said the one with black hair.

I saw Amelia peek out from behind the girl who I perceived to be Katniss.

"Andre!" she cried, running and jumping into my arms. I dropped my knife and held her close to me, swearing over and over never to let her leave my sight.

The others looked on a bit confused.

"Hey…you two are the brother and sister from District 5 aren't you?" asked the girl with brunette hair that stood in front of a little girl with red hair.

I nodded and set Amelia down.

I noticed that the girls' weapons were still poised and ready to shoot.

"We're not going to hurt you," said Robbie from behind me.

"Promise?" asked the girl with red hair behind the girl with brunette hair.

"Promise," we all echoed.

Reluctantly, one by one, the girls dropped their weapons.

Almost immediately, Katniss leapt into Peeta's arms. They were the "star-crossed lovers" after all.

"Please don't leave me," said Katniss into Peeta's shoulder, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

Peeta held her even tighter and promised he wouldn't.

Finally Katniss stepped back, and we introduced ourselves.

"I'm Jade. This is Rue," said the girl I presumed to be Jade. She moved out of the way to reveal a small girl, who I recognized as the 12 year old from District 11.

"I'm Tori. This is Cat," said the brunette, aka Tori. A girl who looked to be about Amelia's age stepped in front of Tori. She was the redhead.

"I'm Katniss, if it isn't obvious," said Katniss. I smiled.

"Obviously I'm Andre and he's Peeta," I said, nodding in Peeta's direction.

"I'm Beck," Beck said. "Katniss, I'm an old friend of Gale's."

Katniss half-smiled as she seemed to remember Gale was back at home, watching her in these Games.

"I've heard lots about you," she said. Beck smiled.

"I'm Robbie," said Robbie. Everyone sort of muttered their hellos.

"So…are we just gonna be a group of 10 now, or…?" asked Katniss hesitantly. Peeta was the first to nod and agree.

"Alright," said Jade.

We sat down on the ground sort of awkwardly, not knowing where to go from here, since we were pretty bored and there was no action going on.

**Tori POV**

Night was almost here, and there was little light left.

"We already agreed that Jade and Katniss were going to take first watch when we go to sleep. Which of you boys are taking watch with them?" I asked, knowing at least two boys should take watch too.

Robbie and Peeta raised their hands.

"Alright then," I said. I got out the 3 sleeping bags we had. That meant we had three sleeping bags for the 6 people that were going to sleep.

In a total of 10 minutes, we were arranged and ready for the night. Our packs were being held worn by Peeta and Jade. Robbie, Peeta, Jade, and Katniss each sat on the limb of a tree.

Andre and Amelia, Beck and Cat, and Rue and I were in the three sleeping bags, strapped onto limbs just below the other four.

"Wake us if you get tired," said Beck.

"Will do," replied Peeta and Jade. "Goodnight."

We all chorused our replies and I shut my eyes.

I had a sense of security, knowing Rue was lying next to me. I don't know why. I just did.

Before I could feel scared again, I drifted into a light but satisfying sleep.

**A/N: Yay, no one dies today! Well no one in the "groups". **

**So…yeah. Hope you liked this! Another chapter coming tonight/tomorrow. Not sure when. I'm also not sure how long this is going to end up being. **

**I will tell you only one thing about the next chapter. There will be a death within the group.**

**Review please!**


	5. A Fallen Hero

**A/N: Hello again! So as I said in the last chapter, there WILL be a death within the group in this chapter. Not telling who it is going to be. Hopefully you enjoy this one!**

**Katniss POV**

I woke up to shining sun and heat pounding down onto me. I realized that I had fallen asleep during my watch.

I shot up into a seated position and looked around, hoping nothing had happened. Thankfully, nothing _had _happened. Everyone was all just sleeping still.

I looked over at Robbie, Peeta, and Jade who had also fallen asleep. Judging by the sun, it was about ten in the morning. I figured it was about time to get them up too.

I climbed over to the limb Peeta was on. Deciding I needed to spruce up the whole "relationship" thing, I woke him by kissing him softly on the lips.

When he woke, he smiled at me and kissed me again. He wrapped me up in his arms and we just sat there for a minute or two. At the time I would never admit it, but I loved it.

"Morning, lovebirds," said a cool voice that could only be Jade's. She had a smile playing at her lips though.

"Morning," we replied.

Finally I decided to get out of his arms and wake Robbie.

I shook him lightly and he immediately woke up.

"Oh my God, did I fall asleep during watch? Did anything happen?" asked Robbie. He looked pretty scared.

"No, its fine. We all fell asleep. Everyone is perfectly alright," I said. Robbie took a deep breath and nodded.

Suddenly he froze.

"Then where's Tori?"

Everything that happened next was such a blur that I barely remember it. I swear, we all literally tore ourselves out of the trees or sleeping bags, grabbed our packs, left the bags strapped to the tree, and tore off in every direction in search for Tori.

**Tori POV**

I walked around the woods, Katniss's bow in my hands, her quiver of arrows on my back. I really didn't know how to hunt, but I knew to be quiet/sneaky and try to hit the animals in the eye.

I realized that when everyone else woke up, they'd probably freak, but at least I would have something to repay them with: food.

After about a half hour of searching, I managed to catch two rabbits and something Rue mentioned last night before I fell asleep called a groosling. Honestly, I was pretty proud of myself.

I started heading back to camp, following the trail I had marked. I put X's on trees so I would know where to go. As I reached each mark, I scratched the X out so no one knew that it was even there.

About a third of the way back to camp, I started hearing my name being screamed.

"TORI! TORI!" cried a voice I could only identify as Katniss's. it wasn't until that I realized I have been walking around these woods alone with basically no protection except the bow and arrows.

I suddenly longed to see Jade and Katniss. Just those two. I don't know why them, but I really wanted to see them.

"KATNISS! JADE!" I cried out. I continued screaming their names until I saw the whole lot of them bound into view. The looks on Katniss and Jade's faces were devastating. I felt horrible for leaving them without even telling anyone.

I handed Peeta and Beck the food I had caught.

"Go back to camp," I said, knowing I was about ready to cry and I didn't want the little ones to have to see that. Only Katniss and Jade stayed behind.

As soon as they were all gone, I was surprised to feel arms wrapped tightly around me. Katniss held on to me as though I was her lifeline.

When she finally let go, she looked more scared than I've ever seen her look.

"Please don't do that again. Do you know how scared I was?" asked Katniss, fighting to keep her voice steady.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, trying to swallow the knot in my throat. I handed Katniss her bow back. "Sorry for stealing this."

"The main thing is that you're safe," said Jade, who also embraced me. In the day or two I had known her, I knew she was cold and mean, so it was weird to see her compassionate side.

"Do you want to go back to camp?" asked Katniss in the same soft voice she had used when talking to Amelia.

I was about to say yes, because I was hungry, but two figures strode into our view. Cato and a girl who Katniss had nicknamed Foxface.

Cato had a sword, and Foxface had a big knife. We were pretty much screwed, seeing as the only weapon we had was Katniss's bow.

**Jade POV**

Tori and I stood unarmed behind Katniss as Cato and Foxface walked in with a knife and sword.

"Well well well. What have we here," said Cato evilly.

"Don't you dare touch them!" hissed Katniss. She had her hands on her bow, ready to shoot.

"We won't touch them. We'll just throw knives at them," said Foxface, her words coming naturally and rolling off her tongue in a sly way.

My heart was beating pretty quickly, but I wasn't about to show fear.

The next few seconds were the worst I have ever lived in my life.

All I remember was Foxface saying something and then a knife coming straight at me. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact, but it never came. Instead I heard a sound of distress, coming from two different people. I opened my eyes to find Cato running away at full speed and to see Katniss send an arrow through Foxface's neck.

The last thing I saw was what scared me the most.

Tori lay on the ground, a knife lodged in her chest. Blood poured out of her wound.

Katniss and I fell to our knees beside her.

"Come on Tori, stay with us, ok?" I said, though I knew we couldn't do anything but stay with her. She was losing too much blood, and her lungs had been punctured. This was her end.

Tori nodded, a mixture of pain and fear in her eyes as she looked down at her wound.

I couldn't quite comprehend what was happening at the moment. All I knew is I needed to stay with Tori and Katniss.

I looked up at Katniss, who looked just as scared as Tori did at the moment. Tears filled her eyes.

"I didn't want to die like this," coughed Tori, reaching up to the knife in her chest.

"No no…don't touch it. It will hurt," said Katniss, her voice restricted with tears.

Tori nodded again.

"You're a hero, did you know that?" I said, my voice shaky with tears. Tori smiled at me.

She coughed again, and blood covered her mouth. She was shaking like a leaf on a windy day, and her pulse was slowing down. I knew it was only a matter of time before we lost her.

"Thank you," said Tori. I looked at her in confusion.

"For what?" Katniss asked, wiping at her eyes.

"For letting me feel what friendship was," Tori said. Her tremors were stopping, slowly but surely.

Katniss and I both smiled.

"You're welcome. I'll never forget you," I said.

**Katniss POV**

"You're welcome. I'll never forget you," said Jade, fighting to keep back the tears in her eyes.

Tori smiled. And for the first time in the arena, I smiled out of real happiness too.

"Can I sing you a song?" asked Tori. Jade and I nodded.

"_I hope you never lose your sense of wonder_

_You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger_

_May you never take one single breath for granted_

_God forbid love ever leave you empty handed_

_I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean_

_Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens_

_Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance_

_And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance_

_I hope you dance _

_I hope you dance_," Tori sang, her voice oh so beautiful and soft. She was an amazing singer.

I let a single tear fall from my eye as she finished off her song.

Tori took in a sharp, deep breath, agony on her face. When she let it out, all I could see was defeat in her eyes.

"See you later," said Tori, causing Jade to make some sound in between a sob and a gasp.

"You know it," I said. Tori smiled once more and closed her eyes.

Her pulse came to a halt. Her chest rose and fell once more, only this time it didn't rise again.

The tears in my eyes spilled over as I looked down at my friend's dead body.

Jade sniffled, and I looked up at her for the first time. It was odd to see the tears pouring like rain out of her eyes.

I smoothed Tori's hair down and brushed it out of her eyes. She looked peaceful.

"Ready to go back?" asked Jade through the silence. I nodded, knowing only more pain would come if I stayed by Tori.

I glanced down at her once more.

"Bye Tori," I whispered. Jade did the same.

We got up and faced each other, and without thinking embraced each other.

We finally let go and headed back to the campsite.

"I swear I'm gonna bring down the Capitol if I make it out of here alive," said Jade, her voice shaking with rage and the attempt to stifle her cries. "And I hope they're hearing this."

I couldn't help but smile.

"I'll help you," I joked, but I knew the Capitol was going to make note of this if we got out of here alive.

But our sense of "happiness" if you want to call it that was soon diminished as we got back to camp.

**Cat POV**

Finally, after about a half an hour, the girls came back. Only someone was missing.

Peeta ran up and hugged Katniss tightly in his arms, then embraced Jade as well. Suddenly he noticed something.

"Why are you two crying?" he asked, and everyone's attention turned to them.

"Uh…" said Jade, not wanting to bear the news to everyone else. Whatever this news was.

Suddenly I noticed something too.

"Where's Tori?" I asked in my overly high pitched and bubbly voice.

Both girls fell silent.

Suddenly Katniss started crying again.

"She's gone. It was Foxface," she cried, covering her mouth. "Foxface killed her."

The silence was so loud that it roared in my ears. It was hard to take this in.

Tori was dead. Foxface killed her.

"She saved my life," Jade said, looking down at the ground.

We all turned to her.

"She stepped in front of me as Foxface threw the knife. It would have killed me if she didn't. but she did, and the knife went into her chest. There was nothing we could do to save her," Jade continued.

We stood in silence again, trying to comprehend this. I felt a weight of sadness on my chest.

"She sang a song before she died," said Katniss. "I think she'd all want you to hear it."

I felt my throat tighten.

Katniss opened her mouth and began to sing in a soft, soothing tone.

"I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger," she began. I immediately recognized the tune.

"May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed," I sang, my voice ringing out.

"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens," Jade sang.

"Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

And if you get the choice to sit it out or dance," sang all three of us.

"I hope you dance

I hope you dance," we finished.

I bowed my head in sorrow. _I miss you already Tori, _I thought to myself.

We sat down in silence to eat. The rest of the night was pretty much silent.

And when we went to bed, I felt empty inside. I said a short little prayer to myself before I closed my eyes.

Tori will always be a hero. In Jade's eyes, in Katniss's eyes, in mine…in all of our eyes.

**A/N: Here ya go. Sorry it's been so long for the update. Hope this was good! I know "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack isn't really a song that would be in their time period, but I love that song so much. So…yeah, I guess that covers it. Review please! **


	6. For the Love of a Sister

**A/N: Hey! I'm glad you all liked that last chapter. I really don't know where this is headed but I am going to make it dramatic, I can promise you that. So…let's see what happens! Haha. Hope you enjoy this one!**

**Rue POV**

It's been a few days since Tori died. The first day afterwards was horrible. All of us were pretty much depressed. I can't even imagine how it is going for her family right now.

Even though it's been hard, we've still moved on and we have stayed alive. Last night, I had a nightmare, and I thought Cat was killed. I woke up and searched frantically around the trees until I found her, sleeping soundly with Beck next to her in the sleeping bag. On watch was Jade, Robbie, Peeta, and Katniss, as usual. Basically they watched for the first few hours or so, and ended up falling asleep. They only woke if there was a noise that sounded bad, and so far this system was working quite well. We all got our necessary sleep for the night, and we all felt safe.

Anyhow, everyone on watch was still awake, and Peeta noticed I had woken up.

"Rue," he whispered. I looked up to see him nod to Katniss, who was motioning for me to come up to her. I climbed like a monkey through the limbs of the tree up to Katniss's limb. Katniss took me in her arms, and the tremors began to rack my body.

"Shhh," Katniss whispered, tightening her grip on me and pressing her lips to my temple. After a minute or two, I calmed down a little bit.

"What happened?" asked Katniss, her soothing voice coming out again.

"I th-thought that Cat was k-killed," I said, stuttering unintentionally.

Katniss sighed, the word "killed" or anything close to it seeming to really get to her. I think it was because of losing Tori.

"She's right down there with Beck, sleeping. She's ok Rue," said Katniss, brushing my hair behind my ear. I nodded, indicating that I knew she was.

"I know…it's just…in these games, you never know. The line between nightmares and the Games is very thin, and sometimes it gets blurred," I said. Katniss seemed sort of surprised at my intelligence.

Katniss nodded, agreeing with me.

"It is, isn't it?" Katniss said. She sighed.

We sat in silence for a little while before Katniss started telling me stories. Stories of her district, stories of her stylist named Cinna and her mentor Haymitch. My favorite stores were about Haymitch. The first one was where he was drunk and told Katniss to stay alive as his advice for her. both of us chuckled when she talked about that. The other one, which was even funnier, was when Katniss got mad and shot the apple in the pigs mouth because the Gamemakers weren't paying attention to her. Haymitch, unlike everyone else, was amused rather than angry. He had said "Nice shooting, sweetheart." As Katniss told this, she was laughing. Soon enough though, we were pulled back to reality as I began to get tired again. I went back down to my sleeping bag and went back to sleep again.

It was now the following morning.

**Cat POV**

I woke up to bright light shining on my eyes. I sighed as I knew it was time to return to reality.

Beck was already awake and on the ground with the others except for Rue and I.

"Morning sunshine," teased Robbie from below. I scowled at him, but soon smiled. I couldn't help being happy even though the circumstances basically forbade it. I bet the Gamemakers were not happy about us being so relaxed.

I waved down at Robbie and went to go see Rue.

"Morning Rue," I whispered as I sat on the limb nearest her sleeping bag.

Rue opened her eyes slowly and stretched out. She smiled as she saw me.

We jumped down and went to the others, who were talking.

"So…what do we do now?" asked Peeta, seemly as bored as we all were. There was nothing going on.

"I don't know…wait. The Gamemakers are certain to set something off soon enough," Jade said, sneering at that last part.

We sat in silence.

"I know what we should do. We've been out for a day now…we need to go find a source," said Beck.

We had been very frugal with the water, drinking just barely enough to survive. We ran out yesterday morning, and I think all of us were very thirsty.

"Split up?" suggested Peeta. There were nine of us now, so three groups of three could go out and search.

Katniss nodded.

"Rue and Jade, you're with me. Peeta, Cat, and Robbie, you're another group. Andre, Beck, and Amelia, you're the last. I think that evenly distributes everyone," said Katniss.

We all nodded and headed off.

**Beck POV**

Andre, Amelia, and I grabbed a couple of the water bottles and headed off. We all had knives on hand.

We treaded quietly through the forest, trying to find any source of water there was. We trekked along for about 15 minutes with no success.

Andre muttered something under his breath and sat down on a log.

"We're so screwed," I said, knowing that lack of water would kill us pretty easily.

Amelia looked up at the sky.

"You know, some water would be kind of useful right now!" she hissed angrily.

To our surprise, a Capitol parachute came down to us.

Instead of water, it held a note.

"You're close. Keep going in the same direction," I read out loud. It was from Amelia and Andre's mentor.

Although we were tired, we scrambled to our feet and took off in a sprint in that direction. The water was soon spotted, and we were about to go get it.

Out of nowhere, the other six sprinted toward us, pausing only tell us to run. I looked at them confused until I heard the hiss of fire, and suddenly the forest behind us was engulfed in flame.

I grabbed the water bottles, and Andre dragged Amelia up from where she was. We sprinted again towards the others.

Suddenly, as the fire grew hotter and nearer, fireballs began to come at us.

I heard Jade scream something I'd rather not repeat as we kept running. I snickered as I heard her, despite the fact that I could be burnt to bits in a matter of seconds at the moment.

The smile was wiped clean from my face as I saw a fireball hurl towards Amelia.

"AMELIA!" I cried out. Andre turned, and jumped right in front of her.

I didn't need to hear the sizzling sound and the screams to know what had happened.

Tears flooded my eyes as I ran forwards, dodging fireballs and trying to breathe. The smoky air was really not helping.

Another fireball headed straight at Katniss. Fortunately, she was dodged it, but it grazed her calf. Peeta picked her up as gingerly as he could for someone who was running for two lives and carried her onward.

Finally the fire cut off completely. The fireballs stopped hurling at us, and it looked nearly as if nothing happened.

But we were in no way fine. The toxins from the smoke were taking a toll on all of us, not to mention Katniss's burn. And the loss of Andre and Amelia.

As soon as we got close to camp, the retching began. It wasn't just me, either. It was all of us. Let's not go into detail with that.

It took about five minutes for it to stop. We flopped backwards on the ground, coughing and in some serious pain. Especially Katniss, who was trying so hard not to scream as the pain in her leg worsened.

I knew we had to do something about that very soon.

"Andre…Amelia…where?" wheezed Jade, wincing as she did so.

Tears filled my eyes again, and I shocked myself by starting to cry.

"One of the fireballs hit them both. Andre threw himself in front of her to protect her, and it hit them, and-" I began, but I was cut off by my cries.

I wasn't the only one who cried. I think everyone did, yes even Peeta. he and Andre had been pretty close this whole time.

"We gotta go back to them. The canons haven't sounded yet, that means they might be alive, and the water is nearby!" Peeta cried out. As weak and tired as we were, we got to our feet somehow and headed back into that direction, taking the water bottles too.

We reached where Amelia and Andre lay, both burned beyond repair. You could see by looking at them that the burn was too severe for anything to be done.

We got there just in time, because Amelia was taking her last few breaths.

"You'll be alright," whispered Cat as tears streamed down her face. Amelia closed her eyes, and she was gone.

"No!" Andre said, or tried to say. It sounded strangled. He was so close to death.

"Andre. Andre, calm down," said Peeta. Andre took a deep, deep breath and looked up at him.

"You've been such a great friend. You mean a lot to me. To all of us. So did your sister," said Peeta, causing Andre to smile a little. As much as a person as hurt as he was could smile.

"Just close your eyes. The pain will go away soon," assured Jade, her soft side making a reappearance.

"Thank…you," Andre managed. We nodded.

He closed his eyes once more, and two canons sounded, signifying their deaths.

Despite our need for water, which was only a few yards away, we stayed for a moment to mourn over them.

Cries racked my thin frame. I tried to stifle them, to be strong for the others. But when little Cat put her arms around me and began to cry, I couldn't stop it anymore.

We all cried for what seemed like an hour before the wind of the hovercraft came. We scurried away towards the water, knowing it was time to pull ourselves together for the moment.

We all jumped into the water without thinking. Katniss moaned with relief as the cool water numbed the pain of her burn. The water felt good as we had been running in extreme heat for the past half hour.

After washing ourselves off and clearing ourselves of smoke dust, we got out and filled the water containers with water. Robbie put the iodine in them and we waited there, weapons on hand.

As we waited, I thought about the people we had lost. Tori.

Oh God how I missed her. **(To that Bori fan who wanted me to do some Bori-mance, here you go.)**

I don't know why, but seeing her, someone who was so weak yet so strong, had kept me from losing my sanity. She was fierce whenever she had needed to be, in any situation that needed her to be. She had a strong stomach and wasn't afraid of blood, so she could take care of anything. She had courage. Courage that to this day, I do not quite have.

And she had sympathy, compassion. She knew how hard it was for everyone. In that timeframe that I had been with her, she was always trying to crack a joke to make everyone feel better. She had taken care of the younger girls, comforting them, telling stories. She never failed to amaze me.

And now there's this weird emptiness inside of me now that she's gone.

Amelia…she was so young.

She didn't deserve what she got. What hurts the most about her death is the fact that it was the Capitol's weapon that killed her. I hope the Gamemakers felt a twinge of guilt when they realized they, and no one but they, had killed a young girl who could have had a life ahead of her. I hope they realized how sick and demented they were.

Andre.

Andre was truly an amazing guy. He had a love for his sister like no one else. He was also a great friend, a funny guy. He knew the world of music much better than anyone else did. Just the night before last, we had been sitting quietly and just listening to him humming a song. He taught it to us, and soon we were singing without a care in the world. I thank him for that, his ability to distract us.

The thing I admire the most about him was his last act; saving his sister. Sacrificing his own life in an attempt to save hers.

He is one of the bravest men I ever knew.

"The water's ready," said Robbie quietly.

We all shared the water bottles, gulping down a total of three each in three hours. We filled them up once more and headed back to camp, where food awaited us.

**Katniss POV – 3 Hours Later**

Night had fallen. We were all full with food and water. We were also all exhausted from the toll the smoke had taken on us.

We had decided it would be safer to move around to a different place, in case Cato or someone was planning on attacking us, if someone knew where we were. We found a cave underground and had settled down. I set a few traps around the cave to at least stall anyone who came around and tried to attack us.

The traps also helped us feel safe enough that we all lay down and went to sleep.

I couldn't sleep though. I kept thinking about Andre and Amelia.

I couldn't stop thinking about how Andre sacrificed his own life for Amelia. How much he loved her. I admired him so much for that.

I imagined that it was me and Prim in their situation.

I thought of how I would react to losing her…what I would do…how I would get on with my life. Outside of the people in this arena, she and Gale are the only two people that I hang onto like a lifeline. You might as well consider me dead if you take Prim out of my life.

I didn't realize I was crying until Cat crawled up to me in the dark.

"What's wrong?" she asked me, her voice reminding me so much of Prim's. a fresh set of tears appeared.

"Nothing…" I said, not wanting to drag her into anything.

"I'm not stupid Katniss," she said, taking me by surprise.

I sighed and began to practically pour my heart out to her.

The next thing I knew, her arms were wrapped around me and she held me tight as I cried until there were no tears left to cry.

"Are you ok now?" asked Cat. I almost said no, because I still wanted Prim to be with me more than anything right now. But for some reason, because I had Cat with me at that moment, I said yes.

Cat smiled a bit.

"Oh wow I'm so embarrassed," I said, realizing just how reckless and weak I had just been.

"Don't be. Should have seen me the night Tori died," said Cat, her voice lowering.

I forced a little smile.

"Let's go back to bed, Cat," I said, a sense of calmness coming over me.

Cat went back and laid down, and so did I. I fell asleep with an image of me and Prim in my mind and a smile on my face.

**A/N: I don't even know what this. LOL. Anyhow, I hope you like it. Review please! The reviews really help me keep these coming. Thanks for reading! **


	7. How I Miss You Now

**A/N: Glad everyone has been enjoying this. Well, here's another chapter! I'm going to do just this one chapter for now in this form. To give you a general idea, I am going to show the family's reactions to their son or daughter's death. I might do some other things too. I just think that this would be interesting, to see what everything is thinking. Ok I'll shut up now. ENJOY! :D**

**Trina POV**

I watched the screen nervously as Tori ran through the woods, that girl Katniss's bow in her hands. I knew another tribute could come bounding through the forest at any time and kill her.

"Please Tori," I whispered to myself. My whole body was tensed up as I watched.

Suddenly people started yelling her name.

She heard them and yelled back.

"KATNISS! JADE!" she called, looking everywhere for them.

Finally everyone found her. She handed the food to that boy Beck and sent the others back to camp.

Almost immediately after they were out of sight, Katniss hugged Tori tightly and told her to never do that again.

"Listen to Katniss," I muttered. It was scary for me too.

Jade hugged Tori too, and they were about to go back to camp when the district 2 tribute, Cato, and Foxface walked up to them.

"Oh my God," my mom whispered. I looked back at her, a mad look in my eyes.

I turned back to the screen.

Foxface said something I couldn't hear and sent a knife flying at Jade.

The next thing I knew, Foxface had an arrow through her neck and Tori had a knife in her chest.

Wait a sec.

Tori had a knife in her chest. IN HERCHEST. TORI.

"TORI!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. All I could do was watch.

The cameras zoomed in on the three girls.

The girls were talking, and suddenly Tori began to sing.

I remember my best friend, Alex, singing that to me before she left for the Games. It was I Hope You Dance.

After Alex died, Tori had sung that song to me every night until my mental state of health was restored to something close to normal. She had taken care of me.

When Tori finished singing, both Katniss and Jade were in tears.

The look on Tori's face could only be defined as defeat. She knew that she had lost this war.

"See you later," Tori said. Jade and I both let out a strangled cry.

"You know it," Katniss said.

Tori took one last breath and she was gone.

Tears flowed freely from my eyes. I wanted so badly to scream, to sob, to do SOMETHING to get out my feelings. Should have seen me last year when Alex died…anyhow, all I wanted to do was just…I don't know. SOMETHING.

Both my mother and I were in a state of shock.

My sister was gone. All these years I had annoyed her, bugged her, taken her for granted. She never deserved what I did.

And now I'll never get to tell her that. I'll never get to tell her how much I really loved her.

"Alex, you better take good care of her," I said, my voice shaking.

**Mr. Harris**

My wife and I watched fearfully as the group of children Andre and Amelia had formed an alliance with ran for their lives from a blazing fire.

Out of nowhere, a ton of fireballs began to rain down on them. They successfully dodged most of them.

Suddenly, a ball of fire headed straight for Amelia.

"No!" my wife screamed.

"AMELIA!" a young boy, who I believed was named Beck, yelled. Andre turned and jumped in front of Amelia. But not in enough time to get them both out of the way.

The ball of fire slammed into the both of them.

"NO!" my wife screamed again as she burst into tears. I held her in my arms as we watched the other kids get back to camp. Giving themselves only enough time to rid themselves of the poison in their bodies, they scrambled back to where Andre and Amelia lay.

They were burned beyond repair, and there was nothing they could do except reassure them that it would be alright.

Within two minutes, they were both gone.

**Prim POV**

Since Katniss had gone into the Games, Mother had stayed in bed 24/7. I took complete care of her while trying to keep up with the Games to see that nothing happened to Katniss or Peeta.

Gale doesn't even watch the Games. He only comes by to drop off game for me and Mother to eat. He is too afraid of something happening to Katniss or his old friend Beck.

So I sat alone in front of the television screen, watching. I had watched Katniss's reaction to that girl named Tori dying. I had never seen her cry like that before. I watched her reaction to Andre and Amelia dying.

It was now late at night, and sleep was out of the question. So I kept watching the Games.

Katniss and the others had moved down into a cave. Katniss set up some traps around the entrance to help ensure their safety from other tributes.

She and this other girl with bright red hair lie awake in the cave. I could tell the other girl was awake because she never moved around that much in her sleep before. And I could tell Katniss was awake because, well, her eyes were open. Its kind of obvious.

Out of nowhere she started crying.

The other girl heard her and crawled over to her.

"What's wrong?" asked the younger girl.

"Nothing…" Katniss said. _Yeah right, Katniss, _I thought. I could read her like an open book, and she was definitely not fine.

"I'm not stupid Katniss," said the younger girl. I remembered her name was Cat.

And something snapped inside Katniss, because she began to spill all of what was wrong.

She told Cat about me, how she missed me, how she loved me, how Andre and Amelia reminded her of me and her. "I just want her here!" was the last thing she said before Cat took her in her arms.

Katniss cried and cried and cried until she literally could not cry anymore. All the while all I could think was that I wanted her with me so badly right now.

"I miss you too, Katniss," I said, tears forming in my eyes.

After seeing Katniss fall asleep, I went to her bed and lie down. It smelled like her. It was comforting.

I began to sing quietly to myself.

"Deep in the meadow

Under the willow

A bed of grass

A soft green pillow…"

**A/N: So…yeah. I promise this is the only chapter I will do like this. I was just stuck on what to write, so I did this. Hope no one's too angry at me haha Well, I will post another chapter very soon. Bye!**

**Oh yeah…please review! k bye for real now.**


	8. The Accident

**A/N: Hello again! This chapter is back to the arena. I really don't know what to do so…we'll just have to see what happens. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy whatever this becomes! xD**

**Oh and for those who are going to be sad to see all of the Victorious characters go…this IS an AU. Who knows what could happen? ;)**

**Robbie POV**

We have been in the arena for a total of two weeks now. Since Andre and Amelia were killed, 3 more tributes have died: Allison from my district, the district 8 girl, the district 9 girl. That left us with only 12 tributes left in the arena. There were only 5 enemy tributes left.

"Guys?" I asked. Everyone looked at me.

"What are we going to do if it comes down to only us here in this group? What will we do then?" I asked. I could never kill ANYONE in this group.

Everyone was silent for a while, but finally Peeta came to a solution.

"We continue on with life in the arena until the Gamemakers give up and take us out," he said. I nodded. I really didn't want to live my life in the arena any longer than I had to, but I also did want to die or have to kill anyone else.

We sat in silence again. I wondered what any of the other tributes were doing.

We had kept up on our water supply and had plenty of water. The only thing we didn't have right now was food. We had eaten the last of it for dinner last night.

"We need food. I'm going hunting," Katniss said. She got up and kissed Peeta on the lips.

"You're not going alone. I couldn't let you," said Peeta dramatically.

Katniss cupped his face in her hands.

"I'll be alright," she said. She kissed him once more.

"Katniss and Peeta sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Rue taunted playfully.

Katniss turned to her and smiled.

"Oh be quiet, you little brat," she said, hugging Rue. I smiled at the sight of them.

"Robbie?" said Katniss, looking at me. I raised my eyebrows to show that I was listening.

"Toss me my bow," she said.

"On one condition," I said.

Katniss waited for me to propose my demands.

"We all go out or at least split up. You're not going hunting alone," I said, not giving her a choice.

Katniss sighed and nodded. I tossed her bow and quiver of arrows to her and we all got ready.

"Are we all going as a group or not?" I asked, picking up a knife. I tossed the sword to Beck.

"Together," Katniss said quickly. "I'm not having a repeat of the last time we split up."

I remembered how Andre and Amelia had died when we all split up to find water.

We nodded solemnly and headed out.

**Beck POV**

As we headed out, I made sure to keep Jade near me. Since Tori died and Katniss could take care of herself perfectly well, and Peeta was protecting her, I felt it was my job to watch over Jade. Robbie watched over Cat. Everyone sort of watched over Rue.

As we walked quietly through the woods, something ran through the trees. I immediately stood in front of Jade. She didn't object; instead, she welcomed my protection and hid behind me.

Katniss shot in the direction of the noise. A groosling fell to the ground.

I turned back to Jade, and she looked me in the eyes. If I could stay in that moment, I would.

"Hey, lovebirds? Don't mean to interrupt your moment, but we gotta keep moving," said Katniss.

I tore away from Jade's eyes, focusing on the task at hand.

"You're one to talk," teased Jade. All of us chuckled to ourselves. Katniss looked back and shot her a look but then smiled.

We picked up the groosling and headed forward.

About an hour later, we were back at the cave eating a little bit.

"You know, I'm actually ok right now. I thought the whole time in this arena would be absolutely terrible. But it turns out there are some moments where it's alright," said Jade. She looked at me as she said that, and I looked down to hide my smile.

"I agree," said Katniss, looking at Peeta and Rue.

"I second that," Robbie said, eyeing Cat as he did so.

Right now, with the sound of the chirping birds, the song of the mockingjays, my friends surrounding me, I was alright. I was alright and I would be alright until we got out of this place.

For once, I felt actual peace while in the arena.

Peeta motioned for Katniss to come over to him, and she laid back in his arms and closed her eyes with a smile on her face.

I laid back myself and closed my eyes. In a matter of moments, there was a beautiful but tired Jade laying on one side of me, and an adorable but tired Rue laying on the other. Cat crawled up in Robbie's arms as well.

**Seneca Crane POV**

I watched in fury at the arena cameras. There was absolutely no action going on. Cato and the other "enemy" tributes to the huge alliance were separated, all far away from each other. What infuriated me the most was to see the alliance safely in a cave with traps around it, and they were RELAXED. I mean, sure, Cato had a huge stack of supplies that he was surviving off of, but no one else knew about it. I mean, how could they?

Suddenly I had an idea. My cruel, sly smile appeared on my face.

"Let's have cave where the alliance is resting cave in on them, please," I said, watching the camera in the cave to see what they would do.

"Oh, and send a bomb in there too. The worse the better," I sneered.

I knew it would bother the most. Katniss Everdeen would take it the hardest. Her father died in a mine accident. This would be too much like the accident for her to handle if someone died.

Good.

**Katniss POV**

We had about five minutes of peace and rest until the Gamemakers decided that we had had enough. And the way they did that…it will haunt me still today.

As we were laying in our spots, calm and happy, I felt a rumbling under my feet. I looked up and some dust was falling down on me.

Suddenly I went into panic/flashback mode. I remembered my dad's mine accident. It became even worse when I saw the bomb roll into the cave. Surely this was the Capitol's doing. There were no bombs in the Cornucopia.

"GET OUT! GET OUT OF HERE!" I cried, trying to get everyone to get up in moving. They were all in so much shock though….no one would move.

I started by punching Beck in the arm.

"GET OUT!" I yelled. He nodded, grabbing Rue and Jade as he did so.

Robbie, Peeta, and I got out just in time. I was praying to God that Cat would make it out, immediately regretting the fact that I didn't go after her.

I looked back, and everything was in slow motion.

Cat was just barely crawling out of the cave, and I almost felt relieved, thinking she was going to be perfectly alright.

Then, then bomb exploded.

I didn't catch everything, but I flew backwards and landed on my back. My hearing wasn't damaged, I made sure to check that. I was in some pain in my back, but that wasn't my main focus right now. I wanted to make sure Cat was alright.

"Cat!" I yelled, trying to shake the dizziness out of my head as I stood up to go find her.

I saw a fiery red hair rustling in the wind underneath charred rubble from the cave. I swear my heart stopped.

I looked around, my breath caught in my throat.

I turned back to the cave. I could see her body. Her hands and legs peeking out from under the rubble.

And suddenly, she moved.

It was only a slight movement. I don't know how I saw it. But I saw it.

Her fingers closed in ever so slightly. She wasn't dead yet.

I sprang to life, running towards her and dragging her out from the rubble. She lay on her back below me. I kneeled down next to her, clinging to her hand for dear life.

She started coughing, and she opened her eyes.

"Water. Someone get me water!" I cried, and Rue handed me a bottle. I had Cat drink a little, and she was able to stand up.

"Are you ok?" I asked her.

"Other than my everything hurting, I'm good," she said, a slight smile playing at her lips.

I hugged her tightly to me, tears starting to form in my eyes.

When I let go, I collapsed to the ground, hyperventilating and trying to get the memory out of my head.

"Katniss? Katniss what's wrong?" asked Jade, kneeling down beside me.

"Her dad was in a mining accident. This was so close to what happened…" said Beck. Gale must have told him about it.

"I was scared that Cat was going to be blown to bits, just like my dad," I said, trembling now. I knew showing my weaknesses to the Capitol like this was no good. Now they knew how to break me.

"Katniss. Katniss Calm down," said Peeta, holding on to me as memory after memory crashed into me like a wave.

Slowly but surely, my strength was regained and I was alright.

"Well, now we have to find a new camp," I said bitterly. I was going to murder Seneca Crane if I got out of here for blowing up that cave.

"Shall we?" said Peeta.

I nodded.

"Can you walk, Cat?" asked Jade.

Cat nodded, but I could tell she was in some pretty serious pain.

"You sure?" Jade asked, and I sense she could see that as well.

Cat nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

I almost smiled at her. She was a fighter. She may not look it on the outside, but she is a fighter at heart.

Silently we headed out towards the vast beyond that is the arena, hoping that we could find another cave or another camp that would keep us just as safe.

**A/N: Soooo…viola. Hope this was reasonable for the wait haha. Review and let me know what you thought! Working on another chapter as soon as I upload this. Bye!**


	9. Heartbreak

**A/N: Hello again! So once again, as always, I really don't know where this story is going, how long it's going to be, and what I am doing for this chapter as a matter of fact. Let's just see what ends up happening.**

**Oh, and if someone does die, please don't kill me! D: I'm only trying to make the story realistic. I do have an idea that will please most people though.**

**Ok, on to the chapter.**

**Rue POV**

We had found two other caves to camp out in not far from our original one. We knew that the Capitol could blow them up again but what mattered the most at that moment was finding shelter.

It had been a day since our cave was blown up. Not much happened really. One more tribute died though. I think it was the girl from District 10, but don't quote me on that one.

So now, there were eleven tributes left. The 7 of us and 4 enemy tributes. The only two that we were really worried about were Cato and Thresh, the male tribute from my district. Cato was like a machine who could kill anything and Thresh was just about the same way. The only other two tributes that were our enemies were the District 10 boy and District 1 boy named Marvel.

It was late at night. I was snuggled up in a sleeping bag with Katniss. I alternated between Katniss and Peeta sleeping with me because one of them was always on watch, to keep us safe in case the Capitol did try and blow this thing up. Katniss, Peeta, and I were in this cave, and Jade, Beck, Cat, and Robbie were in the other one about 3 yards away. We had a rope system going on. A long cord of grasses stretched from our cave to the other cave. The person on watch held one end of it in their hands. If anything should go wrong, the person on watch need only tug on the rope and all 7 of us would spring into action.

So safety was really not an issue to be honest. Therefore, I didn't know why I was wide at this time of night. I could tell by the way Katniss was breathing that she was awake too.

I looked over at Peeta, who had fallen asleep.

"Katniss?" I whispered. Katniss looked down at me.

"Why are you still awake? You need to sleep," she said, brushing some hair out of my eyes.

"I could say the same to you. And I can't sleep because…because I have a plan. I kinda only want you and me to do it, but I know it'd be better to have everyone else come along," I said.

"Ok. And why did you only want me and you to do it?" asked Katniss.

"Because…I feel closer to you than anyone else," said I said. Katniss smiled. A real, genuine smile. One I hadn't seen for a while.

"Alright. What's your plan?" she asked me.

I told her everything that was going through my mind. My plan was for us to blow up the food pyramid that Cato had stacked by the lake (we had seen it and seen that Cato had dug up and re-placed the land mines when we were hunting the other day together). I would light some three fires to lure Cato and other tributes away from the food and towards me. We would use the mockingjays to signal if we were alright. I sung the tune quietly so no one would wake up, and Katniss sung it back to make sure we had it right. Katniss would shoot an arrow at something in the pyramid to set off the land mines around it. The food would blow up, and we would rendezvous back at the camp.

"That sounds perfect. No way Cato can survive without his precious food pile," said Katniss.

I nodded. Cato couldn't survive without it, and that was just that.

"So…are we going to tell the others when they wake up?" I asked.

"One of the others already heard," said a deep voice that could obviously only be Peeta.

Katniss and I sat up and turned to him.

"Oh…hi," Katniss said. He smiled.

"Sounds like a great plan, Rue. Who knew you were such a mastermind?" said Peeta. I smiled.

Katniss hugged me and ruffled my hair.

"Course she's a mastermind, she's Rue," Katniss said. My smile only got wider.

We talked until it was just light enough out to call it morning. Then the three of us went over to the other cave, where we were surprised to find the others awake.

"You don't talk as quietly as you think you do," said Beck. He was smiling though.

**Katniss POV**

"So you heard the plan?" I asked. Everyone nodded.

For the next hour, we were setting up the areas where the fires would be lit.

"Ok…let's go ahead and put it into action. Peeta, Jade, Beck, you're with me. Cat, Robbie, and Rue, you're going to light the fires, ok?" I said. I needed the stronger ones to be with me, and everyone seemed to understand that.

I whistled the call to signal we were alright and explained it to the others, just in case they didn't catch it.

I grabbed three knives and handed one to Rue, Cat, and Robbie.

"I'll see you at dinner, ok?" I said to Rue. She looked a little bit scared.

I hugged her close to me, praying that this wasn't the last time I would do so.

I hugged Cat too, promising that everything was going to be alright.

"You take care of them, alright?" I said to Robbie. This was different from all the other times we had split up; there were stronger people in each group. Now….not so much.

"I will," he said. I went ahead and hugged him too.

I remembered saying goodbye to Prim and Mother. It had gone sort of like this. I had told her not to cry when I was hugging her. Only now, I was telling myself not to cry.

We finally headed into action.

"We need to get to the lake. Everyone got a weapon?" I asked.

I had my bow of course, Jade had the sword, Beck had Tori's old knife, and Peeta had a spear that we had found yesterday.

"Guess so," I said. We headed for the lake.

About twenty minutes later, we were near it. Cato had set up sort of a roof-type thing about 20 feet away from the pyramid.

I looked over and saw the smoke from the first fire that we set up.

Cato looked up and grabbed a sword from his wide variety of weapons and headed off. I hoped that the others were already running to the next one like I told them to.

I drew my arrow and aimed at the food pyramid.

When I released, the arrow sliced open a bag of apples, and before I realized that we needed to get back, the mines went off. We were all thrown backward.

I landed on my back and a shooting pain went through me. I turned to make sure everyone was alright.

Shock wasn't quite the word to use for how I felt when I saw Beck lying still on the ground.

I ignored the deafness in my left ear for a minute and crawled over to Beck. Jade was shaking him violently, trying to wake him.

"Beck. BECK!" she screamed. I didn't care if we were heard.

I tried to help her.

"Beck, come on buddy. Come on!" I said. I felt tears stinging in my eyes.

Peeta just watched in shock. They were really good friends…

"How did he get hurt?" I asked hurriedly.

"He was too close. I don't know what he was trying to do…oh my god, BECK!" Jade said, shaking him and crying without shame.

I put my hand over his heart. There was no pulse.

The boom of a canon told me there was nothing we could do.

The tears in my eyes slipped down my cheeks now as Jade sobbed over his dead body. It seemed to get more and more painful every time we lost someone in our group.

I couldn't imagine what Jade was going through right at this moment. She had loved him. It was obvious. To have him torn away from her…the thought killed me inside.

I forced myself up so I could comfort Jade. I held her tight in my arms as the truth set in.

I was pretty shocked to find Peeta crying as well.

Jade was in the worst state. She kept saying his name over and over, saying that she should have done something.

When I tried to speak, I started crying just as hard. Like I said, every loss hurts more and more.

After a minute or two, I remembered the others.

"We g-gotta go find the others. C-can't lose anyone else," I said.

Jade nodded and took deep breaths.

I grabbed Peeta's hand.

"It'll be ok," I said. He nodded. I kissed him lightly on the cheek.

Once we got up on our feet, we were practically flying through the woods to where Rue and the others should be.

When we got to the fire, we found that it was unlit. My heart sunk, and fear overtook me.

Jade hurriedly whistled the tune.

There was no reply.

"RUE!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Panic started setting in, but I knew I needed to stay calm.

Suddenly, two of them came bounding in. Cat and Robbie. Both were panting heavily, sweat pouring down their faces.

"Where's Rue?" I demanded.

Robbie froze and his eyes got wide.

He whipped around, seemingly searching for her.

"I thought she was behind us!" he cried out.

"Oh god," I whispered.

Without thinking, I ran towards where Rue might be, screaming out her name.

Suddenly, a shriek filled the air. No girl but her could make that sound.

"RUE! RUE WHERE ARE YOU?" I yelled. My heart was racing, and even though my back was screaming for me to stop, I kept running.

"KATNISS!"

She was close by. And finally I saw her.

She was caught in a net. It looked like a booby trap; surely one of the enemy tributes had set it.

Before I could get to her, the boy I recognized as Marvel showed up with a spear in his hands.

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

He threw the spear at Rue, and it hit her in the stomach. Fury rising in me, I sent an arrow into his neck, just as I had to Foxface when she killed Tori.

I heard the canon that signified Marvel's death. Wasting no more time, I ran over to Rue and got the net off of her using the tip of an arrow. I put her head in my lap.

I knew there was nothing I could do at that moment. It was too late.

"You blew up the food?" asked Rue, a tear streaming from her eye. She reached up and gripped my hand tightly.

I heard the others run up to us. They stopped short as they saw what was happening.

"Every bit of it," I said. I stroked her hair in a comforting gesture.

Rue closed her eyes and shuddered. More tears spilled from her eyes when she opened them again.

"You have to win now. all of you," she said, glancing over at the group who watched on at the scene unfolding before them.

"I promise," I said, my voice starting to falter. Tears sprung in my eyes.

"Sing?" asked Rue.

I nodded.

"Deep in the meadow

Under the willow

A bed of grass

A soft green pillow

Lay down your head

And close your eyes

And when they open

The sun will rise," I sang. Rue was slipping away from me. I turned away for a moment to try and hide the tears.

"Here it's safe, and here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet–

–and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you," I continued singing.

Rue closed her eyes, and her grip on my hand slackened.

A sob ran through my body, and I couldn't help but let it out.

I used all the strength I had to finish the song for Rue.

"Deep in the meadow, hidden far away

A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray

Forget your woes and let your troubles lay

And when again it's morning, they'll wash away

Here it's safe, and here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet–

– and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

Here is the place where I love you," I sang, finishing the song.

There was no life in the eyes that I stared down into. There was no pulse in the wrist that I gripped so tightly.

My Rue was gone.

The sobs really started coming on hard now. I made no attempt to hide them or quiet them either.

I held Rue's hand tight and just sobbed.

I felt strong arms around me, and then another pair. Peeta and Jade were holding me tightly.

"I hate the Capitol. I HATE THEM!" I yelled. I started screaming obscenities up at the sky, hoping the Gamemakers and President Snow and everyone else would hear them.

"Katniss. Katniss calm down," Peeta said. He held me even tight and pressed his lips to my temple.

Nothing was going to calm me down right now though.

To spite the Capitol, I got up and found some flowers. I cut their stems with a knife and began placing them around Rue, tuning out everything and everyone else in the world.

When I was done, more tears came over me.

"She looks beautiful, Katniss," said Jade.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

I felt the wind starting to pick up, and I knew the hovercraft to pick up Rue was nearby.

The three of us stood up and looked down at Rue one last time. She looked so peaceful and calm.

"Goodbye, Rue," I said.

I touched three fingers to my lips and held them out at the sky, hoping the District 11 people would see this gesture and know what I was meaning.

I couldn't bear to look down at Rue one more time.

With blurry vision, I looked over at Robbie and Cat. Cat was in Robbie's arms, and both of them were crying.

"Let's go," I said roughly.

The rest of the night was a blur. We ate the rest of our food, and lie down in our caves. I remember the conversation we had had before going to our separate caves.

"Do you want us to all stay in one cave?" asked Robbie. I could tell by his tone of voice that he sort of wanted me to say no. Frankly, I wanted to say no too.

"No. not tonight," I said. Cat and Jade understood.

I was now laying with Peeta. my head was on his chest, and he had one arm around me.

"Are you ok?" asked Peeta. that was all it took to break me.

"No," I said. Before I knew it, I was shaking and crying all over again, my head buried in the crook of his neck.

"Shh," Peeta said, holding me with both arms now.

"I miss her so much," I said through my sobs.

"I know. I miss her too. I miss Beck, too," he said.

I remembered that we had lost him too. We had lost two people in one day again.

That only made me cry harder. Peeta just held me tightly and whispered comforting words in my ear until I had calmed down.

After I was calm, I had lain quietly in his arms, enjoying the security that I felt by knowing that he was here.

"I hope they feel guilty for killing a little girl. She could have had so much life ahead of her," I said, my voice still shaky.

I looked up at Peeta, who was looking pretty tired and worn down. He nodded, agreeing with me.

It was almost as if we were reading each other's minds, because we leaned in and kissed at the same time. And this was the first one that meant something to me. The first one that made me want another.

So when Peeta said, "I love you," I didn't hesitate to say I loved him back. And for the first time, it wasn't just part of an act.

I closed my eyes and scooted in even closer to him, and he tightened his grip on me. I finally fell asleep to the sound of Peeta's heartbeat and steady breathing.

**Rue POV (A/N: you'll understand in a minute, don't worry.)**

I watched the two of them in the cave for quite a while. Katniss and Peeta. Katniss couldn't seem to stop crying, and Peeta was there to hold her.

I knew I was dead. I wasn't going to deny it. But I had unfinished business before I could truly go.

In my ghostly form, I glided over to the two of them.

I pressed my fingers to my lips and then held them out to Katniss and Peeta.

"Thank you," I whispered.

I saw a light in the distance, and I saw Beck standing there.

"They'll be alright Rue," he assured me.

He held out his hand, and I took it.

**Peeta POV**

I laid with Katniss until she fell asleep, her head on my chest.

I was pretty tired too, so I decided I would go ahead and let myself rest.

I kissed Katniss's head and lie back.

I could have sworn that before I fell asleep, I saw the outline of little Rue, her fingers held out in the District 12 salute.

**A/N: Here you go. Sorry if this is sort of jumbled and confusing…I'm sort of tired. I promised to update so I figured I needed to do this before I went to sleep. I hope that this was at least tolerable. Please review!**


	10. Peace

**A/N: Hello! So I think this story is dwindling down to an end. Then again, I said that about my first story, and it ended up having 12 chapters and I wanted to add more. Haha let's see what happens in this chapter…**

**Katniss POV**

It's been two days since Rue and Beck died, and Jade and I aren't taking it well at all.

We've been pretty much depressed. Neither of us has spoken much. I've only talked to Peeta and Jade. Other than that I've not said a word to anyone else.

So that's why we all sat silently in Peeta's and my cave, eating the last of our food.

As we finished it all off, I felt I needed to be alone with Jade. She's the only one who understood what I was going through.

"I'm going hunting," I said. I looked and Jade, and she sort of got it.

"Coming too," she muttered. Those were the first words either of us had said to Cat or Robbie.

I stood up and grabbed my arrows and then my bow. Jade grabbed a sword which lay next to my bow and we set out into the woods, not really caring what any of the others had to say about it.

We were silent for the first minute or two, then finally I spoke up.

"How ya holding up?" I asked, sounding nothing like myself.

Jade just turned to me and shook her head.

I sighed and looked down.

"I never in a million years thought I would ever get attached to anyone else in my life," Jade began. I could tell this was going to be a story. We kept walking. I shot a groosling and retrieved it. Then, Jade continued her story.

"My little brother was killed last year in the Hunger Games. Eli West…do you remember seeing him? He was only twelve," Jade asked me.

In fact, I did remember. I remembered quite clearly. It scared me, to see him die as just a 12 year old, because I wondered if Prim would get called this year. I remember my mother, Prim, and I had been rooting for him. And you wouldn't believe how hard Prim cried as that spear went through his body.

"Prim and I were rooting for him last year. She cried so hard when he died…" I said, recalling the memory for Jade.

"Ah I see…I miss him so much. He was the only reason I liked life. My dad has always hated me, and my mom died a long time ago from a sickness," Jade continued. I shot a squirrel and picked it up. Jade took the groosling and squirrel from me as we continued through the woods.

"After he was killed…I had nothing to stay here for. That's why I was going to volunteer for this year's games. Didn't need to though, they called me anyhow," Jade said bitterly. I continued to listen.

"I never thought I would get so attached to someone else again. I never thought I could love someone as much as I loved Beck again," Jade said, fighting to keep her voice steady.

"To have him torn away from me…from us…it's too much," Jade said, her voice breaking. "It felt like I was losing Eli again."

I put an arm around her to comfort her.

"I know it's hard right now. believe me, I actually know what it feels like. But I think it's time that both of us stop pushing away the support and comfort that Cat, Robbie, and Peeta are offering us," I said, my throat tightening as I remembered how I always pushed away my mother.

Jade sighed and rubbed viciously at her eyes.

"Alright. Now, your turn to tell your life's story," Jade said, managing a small smile.

"Before I do, can we head back? Or do you wanna keep moving?" I asked.

"Let's keep moving, just for a little while longer," said Jade. I nodded.

_Well, here goes nothing,_ I said, taking a breath to begin my story.

"When I was younger, my father was killed in a mine accident. He was blown to bits…there was nothing left to bury," I began. Jade just listened as we walked.

"No words could describe how much it hurt. Prim was so tiny when that happened, so I don't know if she remembers it. She knows about it though, and sometimes she gets sad about it," I continued.

"After that happened…my mother tuned out. She was so depressed that I had to take care of her and Prim, with the help of Gale, Beck's old best friend," I said, tears pricking at my eyes as I remembered Gale and Prim and Mother back at home. How I wished to see them all.

"For years I have pushed my mother away. I regret that so much. I would give anything to tell her that," I said, hoping that the cameras were focused on me and Jade.

"So all those years that I pushed my mom away, my main focuses and reasons to live were Prim and Gale. Still are, that hasn't changed. Gale…god, how do I even begin to explain how much he means to me, how thankful I am for him," I said.

"And Prim…I love my sister more than anything in the world. Ever since I have had to basically raise her, she has been the thought in the back of my mind that told me that all the things I have to do just to keep us alive were to worth it," I said. I was kind of surprised to see tears in Jade's eyes. This must have really gotten to her.

"And you know what the last thing I said to her was?" I asked, now full-out crying again.

"What?" asked Jade, rubbing my back soothingly.

"I promised her that I would win. I promised that I would win for her. And now, I am doing that for both her and Rue," I said, my voice breaking as I said Rue's name.

Jade hugged me close to her as we cried into each other's shoulders for a minute.

When she let go, she looked me in the eyes so deeply and intensely that I was practically paralyzed.

"And you are going to win. I will stop at nothing to make sure you do," said Jade.

"No," I said. "Not just me. I will not leave this arena if I don't have you by my side." I said that with so much sincerity that it shocked me.

"Then we will win together. The five of us will win. For Beck, for Rue, for Prim, for Gale, and for Eli. Ok?" said Jade, the intensity never leaving her eyes.

I nodded.

I was silent for a minute, then I spoke up.

"I know Beck, Rue, and Eli are watching over us right now. and I bet they're proud," I said, more tears coming to my eyes. Somewhat sad tears, somewhat proud, I guess you could say.

Jade nodded.

As I walked back to camp with Jade, I felt like a weight was lifted off of my chest. I think we were both finally able to let go of Rue, Eli, and Beck. Not forget them, but let go and move on.

**Beck POV**

I stood in my ghostly form beside a tree in the arena. Katniss and Jade were talking, staring directly into one another's eyes, with such intensity that it sent chills down my spine. If that's possible for a ghost.

"And you are going to win. I will stop at nothing to make sure you do," Jade said.

"No," Katniss said. "Not just me. I will not leave this arena if I don't have you by my side."

"Then we will win together. The five of us will win. For Beck, for Rue, for Prim, for Gale, and for Eli. Ok?" Jade said.

Katniss just simply nodded.

Then, she decided to speak up.

"I know Beck, Rue, and Eli are watching over us right now. And I bet they're proud," Katniss said.

Tears filled my eyes. I could see that they were finally letting go, and moving on.

And suddenly, there were to young children standing next to me. Rue grabbed my hand, a tear slipping down her cheek. But there was a boy who I didn't recognize.

Suddenly it hit me.

"Eli?" I asked. The little boy looked up at me and nodded.

All three of us watched with tears in our eyes as the girls walked away. The tears were happy though, because we knew they had moved on, and we wanted them to.

"That girl was right," began Eli. Rue and I turned to him.

"I am proud of Jade. I'm proud of her in a lot of ways," said Eli, his lower lip quivering. He smiled though.

A couple tears slipped from my eyes as I replied, "I'm proud of them both."

"Me too, Beck. Me too," said Rue.

And as the girls left our sight, the three of us joined hands.

Once they were gone, a light appeared. The one and only Tori Vega stepped into our view.

"Let's go," she said in a soft voice as she extended her hand.

I took one last glance at where the girls had been standing moments before and then walked to Tori.

**Cat POV**

After about a half an hour, Jade and Katniss came back with red eyes. I could tell they had been crying, but no one said anything about it.

Out of nowhere, Katniss put down her bow and came up and hugged me tight.

"I'm sorry for pushing you away," she said as she hugged me.

"It's ok. I love you," I said.

"I love you too," Katniss said.

She hugged Robbie too, and Jade came up to me.

"Oh, Cat," she said, throwing her arms around me. "I am so sorry…"

"It's alright, Jade. I understand," I said.

"I love you," Jade said. I replied with "I love you too."

We all sat down to eat what had been brought back to camp.

"Hey guys?" asked Katniss. We all turned to her.

"Can we…can we all sleep in the same cave now? I think Jade and I are ready," she said, and Jade nodded.

"Of course," said Robbie.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peeta smiling.

I think Katniss and Jade were finally going to be able to move on as the rest of us had.

Night was beginning to fall, and we decided to go ahead and go to sleep.

**Peeta POV**

It was probably only about 9 PM, but we were all pretty tired for some reason.

Now, we all lay in the cave that was originally Katniss, Rue, and I's. Katniss, as she has been since we moved to this cave, was curled up against my chest, and we had a sleeping bag over us as a blanket.

Jade lay right next to me. Her hand gripped mine for a sense of security. Cat and Robbie lay close nearby together.

Katniss looked so beautiful when she was asleep. She looked so peaceful. Adorable, even. I loved the feeling of her curled up next to me.

I stroked her hair softly.

"Peeta?" she asked suddenly. I guess she wasn't asleep.

"Yes?" I asked her quietly.

"Will you sing something?" she asked.

I didn't usually sing, at all, but there were two songs that I had heard somehow. Both came from before Panem existed, when it was called North America.

"Yeah. Ok. There's two songs I know…" I said. Katniss nodded.

The first one I knew I could easily remix to fit Katniss's situation. So I did.

"One day shy of 8 years old

When her daddy passed away

She was a broken hearted little girl

Blowin' out that birthday cake," I began. In the dim moonlight, I could see Katniss's eyes glaze over as she looked up at me.

"How she cried when they sky let go

With a cold an lonesome rain

And her momma said, now don't you cry child

Daddy's watching you today," I said, letting myself really sing out loud.

"Cause there's holes in the floor of heaven and his tears are pourin down

that's how you know he's watchin, wishing he could be here now.

and sometimes if your lonely, just remember he can see,

there's holes in the floor of heaven, and he's watchin over you and me," I continued. Katniss smiled the most dazzling smile at me even though tears were streaming down her face. She grabbed my other hand and waited for me to continue.

"8 years later, his daughter cried, for a girl she lost that day

She stayed there by her side, until her soul the Lord did take

She promised Rue, like she did Prim, that for her, she would win

And though Rue's dead, Katniss knows

Rue is watching her today," I said, quickly improvising the second verse.

"'Cause there's holes in the floor of heaven and her tears are pourin down

that's how you know she's watchin, wishing she could be here now.

and sometimes if your lonely, just remember she can see,

there's holes in the floor of heaven, and she's watchin over you and me," I sang, finishing off the song.

By now, Jade, Cat, and Robbie had woken up as well. All of them, even Robbie, had tears in their eyes as they looked up at me.

**Katniss POV**

I had never heard Peeta sing before, but his voice sure was beautiful. And that song he sang…no words could describe the good feeling it gave me.

"Want me to sing the other song?" asked Peeta.

I nodded.

Everyone laid back down and closed their eyes.

Peeta cleared his throat and began.

"Come with me

And you'll be

In a world of

Pure imagination

Take a look

And you'll see

Into your imagination," I began. Katniss smiled. I could tell she liked how this song was sounding.

"We'll begin

With a spin

Traveling in

The world of my creation

What we'll see

Will defy

Explanation," I continued. Robbie, Cat, and Jade were almost asleep now.

"If you want to view paradise

Simply look around and view it

Anything you want to, do it

Wanna change the world?

There's nothing

To it."

By the time I had finished singing, everyone but Katniss was asleep.

She leaned up and kissed me.

"I love you Peeta. And it's not an act," Katniss said, lowering her voice so the audience doesn't hear that it was an act at first.

I smiled.

"I love you too," I said.

And with that, we both fell fast asleep.

**A/N: I am so proud of this chapter. I think I like this one the best of all of them…**

**I was legit crying when writing the Beck, Rue, and Eli scene. Don't know if I'm supposed to say that since I wrote it lol….anyhow, hope you liked it! Please review!**


	11. The Final Tributes

**A/N: OHMYJENNIFERLAWRENCE. I got on and found a review saying someone nominated this story for an award? WHAT EVEN? MY DAY HAS BEEN MADE. MY WEEK. MY YEAR. JUST…OMJL. THANK YOU TIMES A THOUSAND TO WHOEVER NOMINATED ME! :D**

**Anyhow, I'm still debating on how to end this. But it's got to start with the other enemy tributes dying of course, lol. Hope you like this chapter! Whatever it ends up being! XD**

**Cat POV**

I woke up to the song of the mockingjays. By the way the light was outside, it had to be about 4 or 5 in the morning.

Katniss and Jade lie the same way that they did when they fell asleep last night; curled up against Peeta. Robbie had his arms around me, and he was still asleep.

Everything seemed sort of peaceful actually.

While I waited for the others to wake, I thought about the statistics of the Games.

It was the 5 of us against the 3 others; Thresh, Cato, and the District 10 Boy.

I thought of what would happen if we killed the other three. We would either have to live forever in this arena, or we would get to leave and go home.

I was startled out of my thoughts when Katniss suddenly jerked awake, breathing heavily.

"You ok?" I asked. She took a deep breath and nodded.

I sighed.

Peeta started to stir. Katniss turned to him and kissed his lips lightly. He opened his eyes and smiled.

In a matter of about 5 minutes, everyone was awake and sitting up.

"So…what's our plan for today? Survive or take action?" asked Peeta.

I saw some sort of fire flickering in Katniss's eyes.

"We're taking action. And we're going to win today," she said with the confidence I had always admired.

Everyone smiled.

"So what's the plan, genius?" asked Jade, causing Katniss to playfully punch her in the arm with a smirk.

"While you figure out the plan, I'm gonna go look for some berries or something," said Peeta.

"Please don't go alone," Katniss said, going from fiery to protective in a matter of seconds.

"I'll be fine. I'm not going far. Besides, honestly, who else is going to be awake right now?" said Peeta.

Katniss sighed before allowing him to go alone. That is, after she shoved a spear into his hands.

I tried to ignore my fear of something happening to Peeta and focused on Katniss's plan.

"Ok…let's see here. Let's assume that Cato is still by the lake. District 10 Boy and Thresh…who knows where they are. This being said, I suggest we head to the lake," said Katniss.

"Daring…dangerous…I like it," said Jade. We all chuckled.

The smiles vanished in an instant when the sound of a canon rang out through the air.

Katniss shared a worried glance with Jade before she ran out of the cave, stopping only to grab her bow.

"PEETA! PEETA!" she cried out.

_Oh god no, this isn't happening, it's not Peeta, it's gotta be Thresh or something, _I said to myself, trying to assure myself that it wasn't going to be Peeta.

As we got up and followed her, things were starting to look really bad because we couldn't find him.

Suddenly, Katniss ran into full on.

"PEETA!" Katniss cried, throwing her arms around him.

They stood like that for about ten seconds, and then Katniss finally pulled away.

She looked down at the berries in his hand, and her eyes widen in shock and fear and anger.

"THAT'S NIGHTLOCK PEETA! IF YOU ATE THAT, YOU'D BE DEAD IN MINUTES!" Katniss cried, her voice breaking off.

"Dang you Peeta!" she rasped before hugging him again. I could hear her crying.

**Jade POV**

When Katniss pulled away from Peeta again, she looked confused.

"So if it wasn't Peeta, then who was it?" I asked.

We looked around. The only place we had found nightlock was around here, so the dead tribute had to be somewhere.

And it was. It was very close to us.

A pang of sadness overcame me as I saw Thresh lying dead on the ground, the nightlock in his hands.

"Oh my gosh…that was Rue's fellow tribute," Katniss gasped.

I went over and put an arm around her.

"Hey, it's ok," I whispered as tears started to form in her eyes again.

"Now Thresh can take care of Rue," I said, speaking to her almost as if she were a young child.

Katniss took a deep breath and nodded. Before we left, she did the District 12 salute to Thresh. Then, she started picking up the berries that Peeta had collected.

"What do we need those for?" he asked.

"Maybe Cato likes berries," she said. We nodded, understanding what she meant.

We headed back to the cave to get a little bit of food really quick.

"So, what's the plan? Since I missed it," said Peeta, taking his last bite of groosling.

"Well," I began, since Katniss was chewing, "we are going to the lake. Hopefully we'll run into 10 on the way there. Or Cato. Or both. That works too."

Everyone laughed at that. That was what I loved about this alliance; we can laugh while we're in the freaking Hunger Games arena.

"Alright. Sounds good. Ready?" said Peeta.

We all smiled and nodded.

I grabbed my knife and we headed out.

**Peeta POV**

The five of us walked quietly and nervously towards the lake, hoping that Cato was still there. I wondered how he was doing, without his precious pile of food.

I thought of how if we killed both Cato AND the District 10 boy, we could go home. Or at least be one step closer to it.

It was unusually cold today. Most days in the arena, it was around 70 degrees or so. It felt like 40 degrees at the moment.

None of us talked the entire way to the lake. And when we got there, we were just in time for a fight scene.

Cato and the District 10 boy were standing on top of the Cornucopia, fighting. Cato was trying to snap his neck.

10 bit his hand, and Cato screamed a few choice words as blood poured out.

Cato grabbed his sword and started lashing out at 10. 10 deflected him with his own sword, and for a while it looked like a scene from some sort of medieval themed movie. But after a good 10 minutes of heart pounding action, Cato sent the sword straight through 10.

A canon went off, announcing the death of 10.

"It's just us and Cato now…" said Robbie, almost in disbelief.

Katniss was looking up at the sky.

"What…?" I asked, looking up as well. I saw what she saw. It was getting very dark outside. It was about eight o'clock AM, why would it be getting dark out?

I looked around at the others, a confused expression on all of our faces.

"Let's not go right to the lake…" said Katniss in a tone that I can't really describe. Almost like a confused, "Umm…okay" kind of tone.

We all nodded and followed her.

As we were walking around the forest-y area that lined the lake and Cornucopia, it kept getting darker and darker, until it was pitch black and eerily quiet.

"What the heck…" Katniss began.

Suddenly, I heard a low growl.

I heard someone gasp.

Out of nowhere, a huge, dog-like animal jumped out of the bushes behind us.

"RUN! RUN!" yelled Jade. And run we did.

We tore through the woods, more and more wild beasts coming at us from all directions.

Finally we decided to run into the big open area where the lake and Cornucopia were at.

Cato stood bleeding near the cornucopia.

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I yelled "CATO! RUN!"

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy as we ran, and Cato didn't run. He climbed on top of the Cornucopia.

Without thinking, we all did the same. Suddenly it occurred to us that the enemy was there too, fully armed with some sort of protective gear and his sword.

The big dogs jumped up at the sides of the big golden horn, thrashing around and baring their teeth. They were growling and almost barking. They wanted our blood so badly.

**Katniss POV**

I looked down at the mutts around us. They had to be mutts. Because only the Capitol could make their eyes look like the eyes of our fellow tributes that were killed.

My heart sank as I saw them all.

Rue. Beck. Andre. Amelia. Tori.

I tore my attention away from them and made myself focus on Cato.

He stood there, his sword poised in his right hand, Cat being choked against him with his left.

Wait a second.

I started to draw my arrow, but Cato just smiled a demented, screwed up, insane smile.

"You shoot and I kill her too," he said. I heard Jade gasp, and my throat suddenly had a huge knot in it.

Cat looked at me, terrified out of her wits. She was struggling hard against him, but Cato's iron grip kept her firmly against him.

"Let her go!" I screamed.

Cato just laughed.

"Cato. Please," said Jade. Suddenly I remembered that she and Cato were from the same district.

Cato turned to her, and his malicious smile vanished.

"Why?" he asked. "Why did you join them and not us? Why didn't you drag that Tori girl along with you, too?"

Fire blazed in the icy eyes of Jade.

"Because you are vicious and only out for blood. Please Cato, just let her go!" yelled Jade, nearly in tears. Cat's face was starting to turn blue. If we didn't get her out soon, she would suffocate to death.

Cato looked down at the girl he was killing slowly. He didn't let go.

"CATO! What happened to the Cato that I knew on the train? The one who comforted me and wasn't out for blood?" Jade yelled.

Cato just stared.

"It was one fight," Jade said. They must have been best friends before the Games…and maybe the whole thing just got to Cato's head. Turned him into the vicious monster that he really isn't and never was.

Sighing, he let go and shoved Cat into Jade's arms. Jade held Cat tightly as she gasped for air.

Suddenly, everyone but Cat and Jade went after Cato, trying to throw him off the edge so the mutts would get him.

As I ran up and tried to punch him in the gut, he beat me to it. He pulled his sword on me and put a huge gash in my forehead.

I screamed out in pain, reaching up and trying to wipe away some of the blood so I could see.

Cato picked Robbie up by the back of his shirt and got up in his face.

"Please!" yelled Robbie.

But it was no use.

I lunged at Cato, or at least tried to. I ended up slamming my chin into the hard metal of the cornucopia. My vision was blurred, but I could see Cato throwing Robbie over the edge.

"No!" Cat cried out.

I forced myself up from the ground, hearing the thrashing and gnarling of the mutts below as they tore Robbie apart. He continued to scream until he literally couldn't.

I felt sick to my stomach as I turned to Cato, tears already pouring down my face, mixing in with the stream of blood. He and Peeta were fighting, and I saw blood running down both of their faces.

Suddenly it was my turn to be scared. Cato was strangling Peeta the same way he was strangling Cat. Peeta gasped for air that wasn't reaching his lungs.

Cato looked like he was about to pass out. Blood and sweat covered him from head to toe, and he was swaying on the spot.

"I know I'm dead. Always was, wasn't I?" he asked. I swear he was crying.

"But I could still do this. I COULD STILL KILL HIM!" Cato yelled. I felt like he was strangling me too, because for some reason I couldn't draw in any air.

I turned nervously back to Jade and Cat, shaking like I was right before I came into the arena. Cat was sobbing hysterically in Jade's arms, and Jade was trying to be strong for her. Jade looked about as worried as I did.

It was in this moment that I realized how much I truly loved Peeta. I reflected back on all the times that I had felt a strange feeling about him, but couldn't identify what it was. I thought about all those nights where he had been there, holding me tight, as if to protect me from anything that might be out there. I thought about all those times when I was only acting when I said "I love you."

Suddenly I snapped back into focus at to the situation at hand.

"I'm sorry Cato," Jade said. She had a knife in her hands, and Cato looked confused for a moment.

Suddenly, she slashed the hand that held Peeta, and Cato screamed out in pain.

I ran to Peeta and hugged him tightly in my arms.

To my utter surprise, Cat grabbed Cato's jacket and got up in his face.

"This is for what you did to Robbie," she said.

Cato threw one last glance at Jade, and then Cat threw him off of the edge.

I heard the mutts slashing with their teeth at Cato.

I looked over the edge, and watched almost sadly upon Cato as he was torn apart.

Suddenly, the mutts perked up their ears and ran away, leaving Cato behind.

I could see that Cato was still alive. He was cut in so many different ways, but you could still make out his face and his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking up at us. "I'm sorry."

Jade looked over at him, tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry too, Cato," she said.

I could see tears coming out of Cato's eyes.

"Please Katniss," he said, looking at the bow I had picked up.

My words were choked in my throat.

"Kill me," he said, closing his eyes.

Shakily, I drew my bow. Cato and I shared one last pained look before I ended his suffering.

As soon as the canon boomed, I saw the hovercraft come in and take Cato and Robbie's bodies. But it didn't pick us up.

The light came back to where it should be, and everyone looked around shakily. There were no more enemy tributes anymore. It was just us four left.

Suddenly, Claudius Templesmith's voice rang out through the arena.

"Just a reminder, there can only be one victor. That is all," he said.

"No," said Peeta. That was all he said. He spoke for us all.

As I looked around, suddenly I felt sick again. I collapsed against the Cornucopia, shaking and closing my eyes.

**Haymitch POV**

I looked on at the remainder of the alliance I had become attached to over the course of the Hunger Games.

The four of them, Katniss, Peeta, Cat, and Jade, stood on top of the Cornucopia. Katniss had collapsed against the Cornucopia, looking a little green.

I knew they weren't coming out of there unless they were all coming out. Either that, or no one would come out.

I sighed as I watched to see what the four of them were going to do next.

**Peeta POV**

Katniss collapsed against the Cornucopia, and I immediately rushed over to her.

I grabbed her hand.

"Katniss?" I asked hurriedly.

She opened her eyes and looked over at me.

Without warning, she threw her arms around me and held on tight. I put my arms around her and closed my eyes.

"I love you so much," Katniss said, almost crying. I held her tighter.

"I love you too. It's ok. Nothing's gonna hurt you," I said, stroking her hair.

She pulled away and kissed me. When she pulled away, she went right back to hugging me.

Jade and Cat looked on at us. I talked to them without letting go of Katniss.

"Are you guys ok?" I asked, realizing afterwards that obviously they weren't.

Yet the two girls, fighters as they were, nodded.

Katniss reluctantly let go of me and faced the other girls.

As if on cue, we all went in for a group hug.

I sighed as we pulled away.

"What now?" asked Jade, who looked pretty shaken. In fact, none of us looked all that great.

"If they're not taking us out of here, we might as well go somewhere comfortable," said Cat, her voice shaking.

Sniffling, Jade nodded.

We didn't have to think about where we were going.

We gathered up all of our weapons. You never know what the Capitol might throw at you, so we might still need them.

We headed back to the only place in this entire arena where we could find comfort; our cave.

Everything was as we left it when we had left much earlier today. Sleeping bags were lain out. Food was stashed.

The four of us lie down on the sleeping bags and unzipped one to turn it into a blanket to cover all 4 of us.

Without a word, we all went to sleep.

**A/N: Hope that the wait was worth it. Review please! :D**


	12. Homeward Bound

**A/N: This chapter will include something I know many of you have been asking for. I know I kind of keep doing it with some other characters, but I think this is what you meant when you asked for it. Anyhow, enjoy!**

**By the way, you know how this is VICTORIOUS and an AU? Well I'm going to try to bring in more Victorious elements into it. You'll see ;)**

**Jade POV**

I woke up to streams of light pouring into the cave. Everyone was where we were laying last night.

I saw Cat sort of twitching in her sleep, a pained expression on her face. I assumed she was having a nightmare, so I shook her awake slowly.

"Cat," I whispered, and she continued to twitch and thrash around. "Cat."

She jolted awake, breathing heavily. Sweat poured down her face, and her eyes were about as wide as golf balls.

"It's ok. It was just a dream," I said, hugging her tight. She nodded and swallowed hard.

The two of us leaned against the cave in silence as we waited for Katniss and Peeta to wake.

I looked over at them. Katniss had her head on Peeta's chest, and she was curled up close against him. Peeta held her close to him. Their free hands were entwined. To be honest, they looked adorable.

Cat and I talked as we waited.

"Jade, can I ask you something?" Cat asked me.

"You kinda just did," I said, causing Cat to smile and slap me playfully on the arm.

"Go ahead," I said, returning to serious mode.

Cat took a deep breath and sighed.

"How do you think this will end?" Cat asked. I didn't have to think about what "this" was.

I sighed, not knowing how to answer her without upsetting her.

"I don't know Cat. If I knew, I would tell you," I said. She nodded.

"Alright…how _could _it end?" she asked, sitting upright now.

I didn't want to scare her or anything, so I just gave the best answer I could come up with.

"I think they'll take us all out of here," I said, trying to be encouraging.

"Jade! Please just answer me like you would answer to Katniss!" she begged. I knew she was right. I would tell Katniss exactly what I thought, no matter how gruesome or horrible it was.

"Oh fine. Well…they could kill us all off…" I said, knowing that was pretty possible at the moment.

Cat sighed, realizing that I was right.

I looked over at Katniss and Peeta again, and to my surprise, Katniss had woken up. She was still lying just as she had been before, but with tears in her eyes for some reason.

I walked over to her and sat down by her.

She looked up at me and sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I just want out of here. I want to go home with Peeta and you guys, I want to see Prim, I want to see Gale, I want to see my mom…I just want out," Katniss said. She closed her eyes again for a moment.

I brushed the stray hair out of her face.

"I know, Katniss. We all do," I said. Katniss sighed, knowing I was right.

I turned around and grabbed a water bottle and handed it to her.

"Drink," I said. She did as I told her to without asking why.

Finally Peeta woke up. Katniss gave him a light kiss.

"So…today's plans?" I asked, grabbing a little bit of food that we had left. Everyone else did the same.

"I don't know…see what the Capitol decides to do I guess," said Katniss bitterly. I could tell her hatred towards the Capitol was just as strong as mine.

I sighed and we all finished up our food.

I heard someone humming, but I wasn't sure who it was. I turned to Katniss.

She was humming the lullaby she had sung to Rue. My heart broke in two as I remembered all of the ones we lost.

"Sing out loud. Don't just hum," said Cat. She must have heard it too. Katniss smiled.

She turned to Peeta.

"You know, I really liked when you sang last night," she said. Peeta looked down with a smile on his face, almost as if he was blushing.

Music has always been something that can save me from the reality of life. I can just go off away from everyone else and sing. My best friend Clove and I sing all the time back at home in District 2. Every Saturday, around 2 in the afternoon, we'll go out to the old meadow and no one bothers us. We sing all of the songs that we learn that week. We're really good at finding songs that existed when Panem was North America.

I sighed as I remembered Clove. I missed her so much.

"I know a song," I blurted out suddenly, without thinking. Everyone turned to me.

"Well then sing it," Katniss said.

I decided to tell the story behind it before I sang it.

"Well first, the story," I said, and everyone listened in to me.

**Clove POV (A/N: I had to bring her in sometime. She is becoming one of my favorite characters sort of.)**

I sat in my living room, telling anyone who came near me to go away. I wanted to be alone as I watched my best friend win the Hunger Games.

They were talking about singing. All the memories of Jade and I going into that old meadow rushed in and crashed down on me, like a wave in the ocean.

"Well first, the story," Jade said. Oh God. Here come the tears.

_No, stop it already Clove. You're lethal. Killer. Evil. Don't you dare cry, _I continued to repeat to myself. If there's one thing I hate, it's showing emotion, because it makes me seem weak. I am not weak. At least not in front of anyone else.

"Music is an escape for me. An escape from the real world," Jade began.

A memory flashed back as soon as she said that.

It was only the Saturday before the Games.

_Jade walked into my view. I was sitting on our rock in the meadow, a fresh song stuck in my head._

_She waved at me and ran to me. I hugged her and smiled as we sat up on the rock._

_Being with Jade was the only time when I could be Clove, the girl who loves music, the girl with an actual heart. Other than that, I have to be Clove, the lethal girl who everyone fears._

"_What's your song of the week?" Jade asked me. I smiled, because I had found one that really fit both of our suckish situations right now._

"_It's called Stand in the Rain by a girl named Superchic. I fell in love with it as soon as I found it," I said. One of the things no one ever heard me say except for Jade._

"_Sounds amazing…sing it, girl!" Jade said, a smile crossing her face. I had never seen that smile until I found her singing one day in this meadow. At the academy where we train for the Games, we both acted as though we hated the world and would cut someone's throat out for uttering a word to us._

"_So stand in the rain_

_Stand your ground_

_Stand up when it's all crashing down_

_You stand through the pain_

_You won't drown_

_And one day, what's lost can be found_

_You stand in the rain," I sang. It had a very rock feel to it. I loved it so much._

"_Wow. Just…whoa," said Jade. I smiled._

"_That really fits both of our situations right now…and your voice is amazing," Jade continued. My smile never left my face._

I sighed as I listened to Jade retell the same memory.

And suddenly, she began to sing.

**Katniss POV**

By the time Jade finished her story, I was almost moved to tears. I knew what it felt like; having to act like you're a total jerk around everyone except very select people just so that you don't seem weak.

Jade began to sing her song.

"So stand in the rain

Stand your ground

Stand up when it's all crashing down

You stand through the pain

You won't drown

And one day what lost can be found

You stand in the rain," Jade sang, the passionate side coming out of her. You don't see that side much, as I have learned from these weeks in the arena. But when you do, she goes all out.

All of us smiled at her.

"That was amazing," said Cat. Jade laughed.

"You should have heard Clove sing it," she said, her smiling face faltering only slightly as she thought of her friend back at home. Home. My heart aches every time I say that word.

We all sat in silence for a little while.

"Let's go to the lake," said Peeta. We all looked at him funny.

"Why?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"We could go swimming. We could just enjoy the open air," said Peeta.

I smiled at Peeta. He always figured out how to make a situation better. Really, the only way this could be better is if we went home.

We headed down to the lake, only bringing knives and the sword with us. The only thing that could hurt us is the Capitol's creations.

When we got there, we decided not to go swimming. The weather was just fine outside, the perfect temperature. We decided just to enjoy the fresh, open air.

Shock would never describe what we all saw moments after we arrived.

**Tori POV**

I watched as the four of them, the four lone survivors of the Hunger Games, walked towards the lake where we all sat.

We had heard them say they were coming here. And without a moment's hesitation, we all decided that we needed to talk to them before they were taken out of the arena.

So that's why I sat there with Beck, Andre, Amelia, Robbie, Rue, Cato, a couple other important people, and Eli. Eli and I had become pretty good friends in a place we call Heaven.

Cato is really a good guy. Deep down in his heart, he found love and sadness and other emotions that he had never known before until he died. He found sorrow and regret for all the people he killed in the arena. So he came here to apologize and to just talk to the others.

Katniss was the first to notice us. She looked at us, her mouth agape. She pointed us out to the others.

They walked slowly towards us, almost as if they were scared we were some sort of mutation group.

"Hey there, strangers," said Andre.

"How….what….how…." began Jade, not knowing what to say.

"We're ghosts," I said. I thought that should explain enough.

"I can see that," said Peeta, the only one who seemed able to form a full sentence between the four of them.

After about five minutes, everyone was through the initial shock.

Now we stood face to face.

"Eli…" Jade said, tears already forming in her eyes.

"Hi Jade," said Eli. He waved at her, and she waved back.

"I am so sorry," began Cato. Everyone listened in to what he had to say.

"I am so sorry for anything I have ever done to anyone in Panem. I'm sorry for taking Robbie away from you guys. I'm sorry for everything," he said, almost babbling. For the first time I've ever seen, tears were forming in Cato's eyes.

Peeta was the first to be able to manage a smile.

"You're forgiven," he said. His voice was shaking.

"We had to say goodbye one more time before you guys left the arena," said Rue.

Katniss looked down at her, and I swear she just about broke down.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't there to save you Rue," she said, trying to stifle the cries that were bound to come.

Katniss fell to her knees, her hand covering her mouth as she tried to pull herself together.

Rue glided over to Katniss and put her hand on Katniss' face. A shudder went through Katniss's body.

Katniss looked into Rue's eyes.

"You did more than you ever needed to," Rue said. Katniss took deep breaths.

"But I didn't do enough," she said, her voice sounding rather weakened and meek.

"You did what you could. And that will always be enough," said Rue. More tears leaked from Katniss's eyes as she smiled and nodded.

Rue walked back next to Eli.

We all sort of did our "hello and goodbye again" type things.

I walked over to Jade.

"I am so proud of you," I said. Jade managed a small smile through her quivering lips.

"I'm sorry that I didn't save you," said Jade, going into the same mode as Katniss had.

"There was nothing you could do," I said.

"I could've taken the knife for you," Jade said.

I sighed. Well, not really, because ghosts don't breathe in or out, so I couldn't sigh.

"I'd rather I died than you. You have something that you need to get home to," I said. I remembered listening to her story about her and her best friend Clove.

Jade smiled and looked down at the ground.

"You'll always be my hero," I said quietly. And that was the truth. Jade tried to protect me with Katniss. She did well. She did all she could.

Jade took a few breaths and composed herself.

"Thank you," Jade said. "For everything."

I nodded and smiled. We gave one last look and continued on.

**Cat POV**

The ghost form of Robbie walked up to me, and I immediately started shaking. Out of fear, excitement, I don't know.

"He should have sacrificed me," was the first thing I said to Robbie.

"Kitten," he began. I immediately fell silent. That nickname meant more to me than anyone will ever know. My parents called me that before they died. And Robbie called me that before Cato threw him over the edge.

"You've got your brother to go home to. You know how much he wants to see you? I watched him for a while. He sits in front of his TV crying every minute of every day, hoping nothing else happens," Robbie began, his sweet and soothing voice calming me.

I looked up in his eyes. Somehow, even in their ghostly form, I felt myself being pulled into them.

"You had Arthur to go home to," I said.

"But Arthur has moved on. Well not completely, but he is strong enough to do so. He knows I'll always watch over him. Your brother needs you just as much as you need him," Robbie said.

I sighed and let a few tears fall from my eyes.

"I pictured having a life with you, you know," I said. I am sure he knew, because we talked about it every night before we went to sleep before he was killed.

"I did too. But you know that I will be here with you every step of your life. You'll never be alone," said Robbie. He smiled.

I smiled back, even though my heart was aching.

"I know Robbie. I know," I said. Robbie grabbed my hand. Well it was more like he put his hand where mine was, and I could feel him there.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I replied.

**Peeta POV**

Andre and Beck both walked up to me after talking to a crying Jade.

I was trying harder than hard gets to keep my composure. I was supposed to be the strong guy.

"Hey guys," I said, and my voice was shaking.

"Hey Peeta," said Beck.

"How are you doing?" asked Andre.

I took a deep breath so I could talk.

"Alright. Well I was until a couple minutes ago," I said, my voice breaking again.

"Peeta, you know we've never truly left you," said Beck.

I nodded, knowing he was right. I knew somehow that they had been watching over us.

"I know. It's just so hard to lose someone you care about," I said, even though that was one of the most obvious things that could be said at the moment.

"I know it is bud," said Andre.

We stood in silence for a while.

"But we want you to move on," Beck continued. Oh God, my throat's getting tight.

I finally looked up at them.

"We want you to move on and live yourself a nice life. Take care of Katniss and Jade and Cat. Make some new friends at home," Andre continued.

"I don't deserve it," I said, remembering that I could have saved Beck if I had held him back away from the explosion.

"Yes you do. You don't realize how much you've done for everyone here," said Beck, gesturing to everyone around us.

I felt a tear slip from my eye, and I furiously wiped it away.

"And if you ever feel alone, just know we'll always be with you," said Andre. That did it for me. I let the tears fall freely from my eyes, and no shame overcame me.

I nodded. "I know," I said through the tightness in my throat.

"We're gonna go now, ok?" said Beck. I nodded and waved goodbye.

And then tiny little Rue came up to me.

I now know what happened to Katniss, why she fell to her knees. It's just too much.

I fell to my knees myself, as I was trembling and crying.

"Why are you crying?" asked Rue, in her innocent little voice. The voice of a child who's life should never have been taken. The voice of a child who's life I would have sacrificed my own for.

"It's hard to see everyone back again. Because you know this is probably the last time," I said, breaking down again in front of Rue. I didn't want to upset her, so I tried to put myself back together.

Rue came up and ran her fingers through my hair. I could feel the energy.

"You may not see us, but we will always be there. Through everything," promised Rue. I nodded. I knew they would. All of them.

"Take care of Katniss for me, ok? She means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me," Rue said. I smiled up at her.

"I will protect her with my life for as long as she'll let me," I promised Rue, making a silent vow to do exactly as she asked.

"You're like my big brother. Thanks for everything you've ever done," said Rue, a smile crossing her face.

"You're welcome Rue," I said, and she smiled once again.

"Tell my family I said hi when you go on the Victory Tour, ok?" said Rue.

I broke again, crying like a little child. But I managed to be able to tell her that I would.

I felt energy again, and I looked up to Rue trying to hug me.

"Bye Rue," I said. Rue waved, and she walked away.

**Katniss POV**

"There's one more person who we want you to see," said Cato. He was looking at me as he said it, too.

The man who I had modeled myself after, who I had loved with all my heart, who had been my best friend for a long time, walked into my view.

"Dad?"

He smiled at me, his smile as bright as it had ever been. I ran up to him, and he put his arms around me. He was semi-solid somehow. I didn't ask how, because that was the last of my worries.

I cried and cried and cried until there was nothing more to cry out into his chest. His strong arms around me were a sense of security that I hadn't felt since I was 8.

"I missed you so much," I said, still sobbing.

Dad ran his hand through my hair, tears filling his eyes.

"I know baby. I missed you too. But I've always been there with you," he said. I couldn't even try and talk. I just listened.

"I am so proud of you and who you have become. You have become the wonderful, beautiful, kind girl who I had always hoped you would turn out to be," Dad said, cupping my face in his hands.

"You made me this way. You and Prim made me the person I am," I babbled, saying all I could in the short time I would get with him.

"I'm glad you think that. Thank you for taking care of your mother and Prim. Tell them I said hello and that I love them when you get home," Dad said. I nodded, cherishing the feeling of his hands on my face for as long as I could.

He held me close to him again, and I closed my eyes.

"Deep in the meadow

Under the willow

A bed of grass

A soft green pillow," Dad sang.

His voice. Oh how I had missed it.

I was no longer crying. Just basking in the comfort that I had missed for 8 cold, hard years.

The mockingjays picked up the song as they always had. I smiled.

"I want you to sing that to Prim for me ok?" said Dad. I nodded.

**Jade POV**

Tears poured in buckets out of my eyes as I watched the Everdeens reunite again. I looked over at Peeta, who was watching on at the scene, his lip quivering.

He turned to me.

Before I knew it, he was crying in my arms. Katniss had become so close to us all that she had become almost a part of us. Her emotions, her crying, the scene unfolding in front of us, tore us apart inside more than words can ever say.

"You all have done so much for Katniss. I don't think I can ever repay any of you. Even you, Cato," said Mr. Everdeen.

"You don't have to repay us. We did it because we love her," I said. Katniss turned to me and smiled.

Mr. Everdeen smiled as well. For some reason, it was almost calming. It was…odd, I guess. He wasn't even our father. But I could see why Katniss had loved him so much, and what she had loved about him.

Peeta was now standing up straight again, but he was still trembling.

"Please take care of Katniss and Prim for me, Peeta. Can you do that?" asked Mr. Everdeen.

"I promise," he said, his voice coming out strong.

The smile never left Mr. Everdeen's face.

"Thank you. I think we have to go now," said Mr. Everdeen, turning around to the others, who were nodding.

**Katniss POV**

I was still pretty shaky, but I wasn't crying. I wasn't even crying when Dad said they all had to go again.

"Will we ever see you again?" asked Cat.

Robbie sighed. Well, as close to a sigh as a ghost can get.

"I don't know," he admitted. I knew he would never sugarcoat anything to Cat. He was always honest.

"But even if you don't see us, we will ALWAYS be there," said Beck, looking at Jade as he did so.

"And nothing will ever change that," Rue said.

I nodded. They didn't have to be right in plain sight for us to know they were there.

"I know you will do big things, guys. I can see it in you," Cato said. We all gave him quivering smiles.

"Thanks, Cato," said Peeta. Cato nodded.

Dad walked up to Peeta and shook his hand.

"Nice meeting you, son," he said. I smiled. I knew he would have been one of those almost overprotective dads if he had lived.

"You too, sir," said Peeta. He smiled.

He shook Cat and Jade's hands as well, then walked back to the other ghosts.

They all linked hands, and I knew it was almost time for them to leave.

"We'll never be far away if you ever need us," said Amelia.

The four of us lone victors nodded.

"Goodbye guys," said Tori.

"Bye," we chorused in response.

They all looked up to the sky, and then they were gone.

Oddly enough, no one started bawling or anything. Just…knowing that they were still here in a way…it was comforting. The feeling of loss was no longer there. It was replaced by a feeling of completeness.

**Seneca Crane POV**

I watched on at the scene before me. I didn't believe it was happening. It wasn't possible. Surely, I was hallucinating.

"Seneca, do you see this?" asked one of my Gamemakers. So I wasn't hallucinating.

I nodded slowly.

As I watched the last four tributes say goodbye to their loved ones, I felt a pang of sadness at my heart.

I knew what it felt like to lose someone important to you. I knew what it felt like to have a best friend. Both of them had once happened when I was living in District 2 as a child.

I had never shown any mercy to the tributes. The last time there was an alliance that was still standing, we had sent in a whole feast to them. It was deadly, because it had some sort of lethal medicine in it that would kill you in an instant. The only one who lived was the person who didn't eat right away. That was how we got our victor that year.

"Is it possible for there to be four victors?" I asked suddenly, surprising myself.

All of the Gamemakers turned to me in utter shock.

"You're suggesting we take all four of them out?" said one of them. He was the one who had pressed the button to send that killer feast in when the other alliance still stood.

I sighed.

"Well what else are we going to do? They're too smart to take anything we give them. They move to quickly for us to bomb them or send fireballs at them. And the crowd is going to get bored and just stop watching the Games if nothing happens!" I said, raising my voice.

Everyone in the room fell silent.

"Send in a hovercraft," said one of the female Gamemakers.

"Wait. I'm getting on it," I said.

I walked outside the control room and watched as a hovercraft descended onto the ground.

I stepped onto it.

"Go," I said harshly to the person controlling it.

And they did.

**Cat POV**

We stood there in silence for a while, not really knowing what to do next.

Our question was soon answered, with an answer much better than I expected.

The wind started to pick up, and leaves were being blown around.

I looked over at Jade, smiling.

"Oh my God!" yelled Katniss. She was smiling too. As soon as Peeta and Jade understood what was happening, very wide smiles crossed their faces.

Moments later, the hovercraft appeared above us. Four ladders dropped down. You could almost see the current that would freeze us in place once we touched them.

We tugged the sword and knives out of our waistbands and threw them on the ground. The Capitol can do what they want with them.

"YES! WE ARE VICTORIOUS!" cried out Jade as we ran up to the ladders.

I climbed onto one, and I was frozen in place, just as I expected. When we got into the hovercraft, it was to my utter shock that a man named Seneca Crane, the Head Gamemaker, stood there to help us inside the hovercraft.

We all stared at him, wondering what he would say or do.

We felt the hovercraft move with a jolt, but none of us moved at all.

"Congratulations," was all he said.

And so the four of us sat down in the seats where we had sat weeks before, waiting to into the arena, with twenty other tributes surrounding us.

We were going home. We. Were. Going. Home.

**A/N: Holy chiz this chapter is LONG. Sorry if I bored you to death. Please review!**


	13. The Interview and More

**A/N: Hey again! Sorry for the incredibly long wait. I haven't been feeling so hot and I have been busy with school stuff. My apologies!**

**So I know that last chapter was really long. I will try not to make these ones as long.**

**I hope you like this! By the way, I am picking up exactly where I left off. Well very extremely close to it.**

**Katniss POV**

The hovercraft landed at the Remake Center, where we were immediately whisked inside to get cleaned up.

The four of us took showers to get off the main layer of dirt and grime, and then we were handed over to our prep teams. As soon as we were brought back to health and at least good looks, we would be doing an interview with Caesar Flickerman.

I never thought I would see the day when seeing my annoying, perky prep team would mean a whole lot to me.

"You did such a good job out there!"

"I can't believe you made it!"

"You're amazing!"

The whole time I just smiled as they remade me to what they called Beauty Base Zero.

For about two hours, I laid there on that table. They fixed my overgrown nails, combed through and nourished my matted hair, and put on this special cream that would clear up all of my scars and treated my cuts.

When they were done, I looked much better than I had in the arena, but not good yet. The cream had to work and the cuts had to heal overnight, so I still looked beaten up to a degree.

They also braided my hair for me, almost exactly like it was when I came to the Capitol for the first time.

Almost exactly like my mother had braided it.

"Here you go," said Octavia. She handed me some clothes.

They left the area so I could put them on, and then came back to guide me to where some very important people were standing.

Haymitch, Effie, and Cinna were standing in the room in front of me.

I surprised myself by launching myself into Haymitch's arms first, and he hugs me tight.

"Great job, sweetheart. You did it," he says and smiles. I can't help but smile back. As much as I used to hate that man, I know I really do like him.

I turned to Cinna, who stood there with a small smile on his face.

"You did it, Girl on Fire," he said. He pulled me into his arms.

When I let go of Cinna, I turned to Effie. She was smiling. I figured she would be angry or something that all four of us got out.

"Congratulations," she said, and she shook my hand.

"Thanks, Effie," I said.

She nodded.

Suddenly I was aware of two things. One, nothing could hurt me anymore. And two, I was starving.

My stomach rumbled as if to voice my thoughts. I laughed.

"Come on, let's go eat," said Haymitch.

"Will Cat and Jade be there too?" I asked hurriedly. I didn't want to go a minute without those two.

Cinna laughed at my urgency.

"Don't you worry. They'll be there," Cinna said.

He put his arm around me, and we headed down to where Peeta, Cat, and Jade were probably already seated, waiting for me and Cinna, Haymitch, and Effie.

**Peeta POV**

I sat with the others at the table. We were all waiting on Katniss to get here so that we could all eat together.

Finally, the beautiful girl who I was lucky to say that loved me walked in. She was wearing something similar to the rest of us. A black t-shirt and gray pants.

Everyone smiled as Effie, Cinna, Katniss, and Haymitch took a seat. Effie, Cinna, and Haymitch sat on the other side of the table. Katniss sat in the fourth seat that was right next to me.

"I'm almost afraid to eat," said Jade with a slight laugh. "I haven't had rich Capitol food like this in a while."

I nodded, agreeing with her. I remember what it was like for Katniss and I after we ate this rich, delightful Capitol food for the first time. Both of us felt sick afterwards.

Slowly but surely, we did all eat. We ate little bits at a time, of course, but we ate.

"So, how do you feel right now?" asked Cinna with a smile. I understood why Katniss made friends with him so easily; he's just a friendly man.

"Safe," Cat said immediately.

Effie smiled, but I could tell she was hiding something. There was just something not right about her expression. I decided to brush it off until later, when we could talk in private.

"Happy," I said. That was the truth; I was out of the arena. I was safe from harm at the moment. Nothing could go wrong.

"Free," said Jade. "Free from the arena, free from harm."

Katniss sighed before saying what she did next.

"At home, almost," she said. "I have all of you here with me. My mother and Prim are not that far away, and I will see them soon. So yeah…at home."

I smiled at her.

Then she did something that, even after she admitted she really did love me, sort of surprised me.

She took my hand underneath the table. It was her this time. It wasn't me.

And her hand stayed in mine the dinner.

Haymitch sighed as we all finished our dinner.

"Could I get some liquor over here?" he asked. We all shook our heads with a smile.

Haymitch got his liquor, and by then it was getting quite late. All of us were tired.

"Well, I'm exhausted. Goodnight guys," said Katniss, pushing her plate away from her.

"You remember where your bedroom is right?" asked Effie.

Katniss simply laughed.

"Yes, I remember. Its only been a month," she said. It had been about a 4 week time in that arena, so technically she was right.

Effie smiled.

"Where will we sleep?" asked Jade, motioning to Cat as she did so.

"We were thinking that you could go down to the District 11 floor. No one else but us 7 are in the building," said Haymitch.

Jade and Cat thought for a moment.

"The elevators will still work at night, right?" asked Cat.

"Yes, they will," said Effie.

Both Jade and Cat seemed to relax a little.

"Alright. Goodnight, guys," said Jade. Everyone chorused their goodnights, and Effie took the two girls down to the floor below us.

Cinna, Haymitch, Katniss, and I still remained on the District 12 floor.

"So, where are you two going to sleep?" said Katniss.

"I was thinking I'd sleep on the couch," said Cinna. I saw Katniss smile a little bit.

"I'm going to go down to the District 10 floor. I like my peace and quiet," said Haymitch. He sounded pretty drunk.

"Alright. See you tomorrow morning," said Katniss.

"Yep, and you better be ready to do an interview with Caesar," he said. We both nodded.

Haymitch headed down to the 10th floor, and Cinna went and lie down on the couch.

I went into my bedroom, and memories flooded back into my mind.

All I was thinking about was Katniss in that bedroom nearby before the Games. I only thought about her and her safety.

I almost feared lying down and going to sleep, because I knew all about the nightmares that usually followed. That's why Haymitch is drunk most of the time. It helps him fight off the nightmares.

I had a strange feeling that Katniss was going to end up having nightmares, and that we would end up meeting up again at the roof like we did before the Games.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

Within minutes, I was asleep.

**Jade POV**

_Blood was pouring down my face. My head was pounding, and it was hard to focus._

_I looked around. Katniss and the others were nowhere in sight. I couldn't hear them. I couldn't hear anything._

_Then I saw him. Marvel. His spear was in his hand, and he stared at me with malicious eyes._

"_You're next," he said. His voice was messed up…raspy, almost like a hiss._

"_Next?" I croaked._

_Marvel laughed._

"_The others are all dead. Katniss. Lover Boy. All of them. Its just me and you," he said._

_The truth set in. Katniss and them…they were all dead. Gone._

_I decided I had no reason to stop him in what he was planning to do._

"_Ok," I said. That was the last word to ever leave my mouth._

_I closed my eyes and waited._

I woke with a gasp.

My eyes shot open. It was dark outside still. I was lying in the room that little Rue had lain only a month ago. Marvel was dead. Cat, Peeta, and Katniss were safe.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

So the nightmares had already begun.

I decided to head up to the roof, because I couldn't fall back asleep if I tried.

I slipped out of bed and noticed that a sheen of sweat covered my forehead and lips. I walked into my bathroom and splashed cool water on my face, which felt very good on my burning skin. Then, I walked out of the bedroom and to the elevator.

When I reached the roof and opened the door, I found I wasn't the only one there.

Katniss, and only Katniss, sat there, looking out onto the ground below. Lights were everywhere in the Capitol; the sight reminded me of pictures I'd seen of this place called New York City.

She heard the elevator doors open and turned to me.

"Hey," she said quietly. I waved at her and walked over.

"Mind if I sit down?" I asked. She motioned for me to sit, so I took that as a "go ahead and sit down."

We looked out at the lights below us, the still-busy streets of the Capitol. Evil lurked around every corner, in every shadow, in any place not lit by the moonlight or the streetlights.

Silence filled the air between us, until finally Katniss broke it.

"You have a nightmare?" she asked me, her voice sounding different than its usual, confident self.

I nodded, watching as a car drove by below us.

Katniss nodded too in understanding.

"Did you?" I asked her.

"Yeah…" she said.

Silence.

"I hate this place," she whispered. I just looked at her and waited for her to continue.

"Everyone here seems to think that killing little innocent kids is perfectly fine, that no one freaking cares if they die," she said. She didn't sound ridiculously angry yet, but the fury in her voice was noticeable.

"It makes me sick," I said, completely agreeing with her. My thoughts wandered to Rue and Eli.

"I just don't get it," she said. "I don't get this whole thing. I don't get any of the people here except Effie, Cinna, and Haymitch. I don't get why everyone else but them is so okay with this. Don't they get what they're doing?"

I nodded, knowing where she was going with this.

"No, they don't get what they're doing. Because they don't have to suffer the emotional distress that it causes. For the kids and the families," I said. I immediately regretted it, because I knew by Katniss's expression that she remembered Prim and her mother at home.

She nodded.

We sat in silence again. I stared at Katniss, trying to read the expression on her face. But she wore a blank mask that hid all of her feelings. The same mask that I always used to wear, and will still wear unless it all becomes too much.

"I'm going back to bed. Sorry for just blowing up on you," she said as she stood up.

"Nah, its fine. I understand," I said. Katniss nodded and tried to manage a smile.

I decided that I had best get some sleep as well, for tomorrow would be very busy.

The two of us rode silently down to the District 12 floor.

"Get some sleep," I said to Katniss. I don't know why, I just did.

She turned to me as she got off the elevator.

"You too," she said. I nodded.

When I got back to the District 11 floor, I lie down in bed and closed my eyes. I was sure I would go right back to another nightmare, but oh well. Nothing I can do about it.

**Cat POV**

I woke up to Jade shaking my shoulders.

"Cat. Come on, get up," she said, the coldness I had heard in the training center returning to her voice. I understood though; we've been through a lot. It makes sense.

I turned to her and opened my eyes.

"Ok," I said wearily. Jade backed off and went into her room to get dressed in what was designed for her by her stylist.

A dress hung on a mannequin in front of me. It was absolutely stunning; simple, but stunning. It was silvery and light-looking. It appeared that it would come down to my knees and then slant down to my left ankle.

I went in to the bathroom and took a quick shower, letting the water massage my sore muscles.

**Peeta POV**

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulders.

"Peeta, come on. We've got to get ready," said Katniss, sounding rather tired herself. I opened my eyes and turned to her. she looked on at me urgently, as though impatient.

Instead of replying with a weary "ok", I decided to do something nice to make her happier.

"Good morning, beautiful," I said with a smile.

The urgency fled from her face, and you could visibly see that she had relaxed. A smile crossed her face.

I sat up in bed and kissed her on the cheek. Katniss smiled again and looked down at me, as though she wanted another or wanted more.

I stood up and stretched a little, and then I turned to her and hugged her tightly. She hugged me too, and she ran her fingers through my hair.

I pressed my forehead against hers.

"Thanks Peeta," she said, smiling that shining smile of hers. I smiled right back at her.

"You're welcome," I said.

"Now come on, we've got to get ready," I said in a high pitched voice mocking her own. Katniss scoffed and smacked me on the arm.

"Shush, Bread Boy," she said with a laugh as she headed back to her own room.

I looked around for clothes for the interview, finding none. I sighed.

I heard footsteps, and I spun around to see Cinna standing in the doorway. He held a good looking blue suit in his hands.

"She really loves you, you know that?" he said as he walked up and handed it to me.

I nodded. Cinna smiled.

"Thank you for protecting her," Cinna said, using a tone I had never heard from him before.

"Y-you're welcome," I replied. He clapped me lightly on the back and left me to get ready.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the warm, soothing water of the shower and stepped inside.

**Haymitch POV**

It was 9:45 AM, and the interview was at 10:00.

We had all just finished eating breakfast, the victors all dolled up in their interview outfits, and we were heading down to the amphitheater where the interview with Caesar would be held.

We all walked in silence down to where Effie, Cinna, and I would have to leave them to wait.

"Alright, we're going to go out and sit down. We'll be in the crowd watching you. Just be natural. You'll be fine," I said.

The four of them nodded, and Effie, Cinna, and I walked into the theater and sat down.

**Jade POV**

We four victors stood together in the same place where we had stood a month before, where there were 24 tributes being interviewed rather than just 4. I thought of Cato, who had been standing in front of me at that time.

"You'll be fine. Don't sweat it," a voice whispered in my ear.

It was distinct. I knew it wasn't any of the other victors, for they were all in front of me.

I would know that voice instantly in a crowd of screaming people.

I turned around to face him, and he smiled at me with crossed arms.

"I'll be watching you. We all will," Cato said. Well mouthed…I think he wanted it to be a surprise for the others. Seeing them out there in the crowd.

"We'll be towards the back," he whispered. I nodded.

I turned back to the others and stood with them.

"May I present to you…the victors of the 74th Hunger Games!" rang out Caesar's voice. The four of us walked in, and the crowd went absolutely insane.

We sat down in the chairs Caesar had put out for us, and the crowd continued to roar.

I looked around for Cato and the others, and suddenly I found them. Cato waved at me. Eli was on his shoulders.

As we waited for the crowd to dull down, I whispered to the others.

"In the very back, smack in the middle," I whispered. The three of them looked, and smiles crossed their faces.

Finally the crowd did quiet down though, and we had to turn to Caesar.

"Wow. Let me just say that you have officially made Hunger Games history. There has never been more than one victor, let alone four. Congratulations," Caesar said. Again, the crowd went wild. We continued to smile and wave at the crowd.

"Alright settle now. So tell me…what was it like? Having such a strong alliance?" asked Caesar.

Surprisingly, Cat was the first to speak up.

"It was nice. We felt safe and we had reliable, comforting friends," she said in her childish voice.

"I agree. Not only were we physically strong, but emotionally we were stronger than everyone else, and continue to strengthen as time went on," said Peeta. He grasped Katniss's hand, and an "awww" rang out through the crowd.

Caesar smiled and laughed.

"You say you were very emotionally strong too. I don't say this to defy that, but I must mention the many tears shed in that arena. Can you tell us more about why there were so many?" asked Caesar. A normal person would have been like "oh that's so stupid, why would he ask that?" but for some reason it seemed absolutely understandable to me.

"Well for one, it was scary," said Cat, causing the crowd to laugh. Cat smiled a little too.

"And…we were thinking about people," I said, remembering the many nights where I had cried over Eli or I would find Katniss bawling because she missed Rue or Prim.

"People. What people?" pressed Caesar.

"Well…there was Jade's little brother, Eli," said Peeta. "He was killed in the last Hunger Games."

Caesar nodded in sorrow.

"His valiance will not go unforgotten. He was a great little fighter," Caesar commented. We continued on.

"And Katniss's little sister, Prim," said Cat. "She means the world to Katniss."

Caesar closed his eyes and nodded.

"And then there was Rue," said Katniss, looking down at the ground in sorrow.

Silence fell throughout the whole theater.

I looked out where our lost loved ones stood. Rue looked on at us, waiting for Katniss to continue.

"That poor girl…she could have had such a life ahead of her. I'm sure she appreciated that last song you sang to her," said Caesar, taking Katniss's hand for a moment.

Noticing the tears in Katniss's eyes, Caesar moved on.

"Jade," he said. I perked up and turned to him.

"I think we were all very moved by the story you told about your friend. What was her name again?" he asked me.

"Clove," I said.

"Ah yes, Clove. What do you imagine she felt like, watching you in these Games?" he asked me.

"Well I…I bet she was worried," I said, sounding a little bit stupid.

Caesar nodded.

**Katniss POV**

The interview went on forever and ever. Caesar asked us about EVERYTHING; our relationships with the others, our past lives, the whole experience in the arena, just everything.

"We are running out of time, but there is one last question I would like to ask. Or rather, a scene I would like to know more about," he said. The four of us listened for what he would ask about.

"The last scene before you left the arena. When you saw lost loved ones you thought you'd never see again. Tell us…for one, was that real?" asked Caesar. I could see why he asked; it seemed nearly impossible, and the Capitol could have created the scene themselves. There's a lot they can do with technology.

"Yes. It was real," said Peeta.

"Wow…never in the years I have been doing this have I ever seen anything quite like that," Caesar said.

We just sat there in silence.

"How did it feel to see them?" he asked us.

I sighed and then started our answer.

"It was…a blessing and a curse. A blessing because…well, you never forget the faces of the people who had been your last hope, your last will to survive, to keep fighting. Their faces appear so often in dreams. And to see them again, talk to them, let them know that you're alright…it was more than we could have ever wanted," I said. There I go again. Pouring my heart out to people I barely even know.

I found Effie and the others in the audience though. Cinna flashed a thumbs up.

"And a curse, as well. Because you know you can never be with them. You know you can never have a life with them. You don't know when you will see them again, or if you ever will for that matter. You don't want to let them go again," said Peeta, backing me up.

"Wow. That's very deep. I must ask…do you regret seeing them?" Caesar asked.

Cat was the first to respond.

"Never in a million years would I regret that. Sure, it hurt when they were gone again, but we got to see them. We got to learn that they would always be there, whether we could see them or not," she said.

"Knowing that I will have them with me somehow is my only will to keep living," Jade said.

There was a moment of silence as if to dramatize what had just been said, then Caesar continued.

"Katniss, I have to ask you this. When you saw your father again…how did the feel?" Caesar asked.

By now, there were tears in all of our eyes threatening to spill over. A tear leaked from my eye, but I wiped it away quickly.

"It was…the best feeling in the world, but the most heartbreaking at the same time," I said said.

"My father has always been one of the most important people in my life. When I was younger, before the accident killed him, we would go out and he would teach me all he knew. About everything. And his voice…god, his voice," I continued. Jade put a hand on my back in a comforting gesture.

"He would sing all the time. And the mockingjays would sing right along with him," I continued, pausing to try and swallow the knot in my throat.

I looked out at the crowd, searching for my father. I saw him standing there next to Tori, smiling at me.

"As long as he was with me, I felt safe. And then he was killed in that mine accident," I said.

"For eight years, I suffered through grief and feeling like I was in danger. For eight years, I felt alone even in a crowded room. During those eight years, I forgot what it felt like to have his arms around me, to hear his heartbeat," I said. There was no point in trying to stop crying anymore.

"And then at the end of those eight years, I finally felt safe. I remembered what it felt like to have his arms around me and to hear his voice singing in my ear," I said, "and that feeling is one that can never be replaced, and one that I will cherish for as long as I live."

It was to my utter shock that as I looked out into the crowd and found Effie and the others, I saw tears flooding Haymitch's eyes.

"I can only imagine, Katniss. Let's all have a moment of silence. For Mr. Everdeen, for Rue, for Eli, and for all of the others who these four magnificent young people have lost," said Caesar.

Heads were bowed and eyes were closed. The only sound that could be heard was the breathing of the five of us on stage.

"Thank you," said Caesar in a soft voice.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Thank you, Victors, for doing this interview. Let's hear it for them!" said Caesar, and suddenly the crowd was raging.

"Have a great day everybody!" Caesar yelled over the crowd, and the lights on stage dimmed as we all walked off.

Next stop; home.

**A/N: So much for a short chapter. Sorry about that. Anyhow, I think I may be able to have another chapter up tonight but I'm not sure!**

**Hope you enjoyed this!**

**-Brave**


	14. Coming Home

**A/N: I hope you enjoy! I don't really remember how the book described the time from when the interview was over to…well, the end of the book. And my brother is reading it, so I don't have it right now. So I'm just going to do what sounds good. Hey, this is an AU anyhow, right? **

**Peeta POV**

The four of us headed back to the places where we had stayed the night before. It was hard for me to understand that in a matter of hours, I would be standing in front of the whole of District 12 again, and my family would be standing out there. My family…

I walked into my room and took off my jacket and shirt, then went in search for the clothes I had worn when I first came here, which Effie said "had been washed and tucked away in a drawer" in here earlier today while we were in the interview.

Suddenly I heard footsteps, and Katniss walked in.

"WHOA! HELLO…" she said, and I laughed. Her face was absolutely PRICELESS.

"Hi there. Whatcha need?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair.

"I was gonna ask if you knew which drawer Effie put our clothes in…" Katniss said, still a little bit stunned.

"No idea. As you seem to have noticed," I said, and Katniss laughed.

"Well alright then. I guess I'll keep searching…" she said. I could swear that she was eyeing my abs.

"K, you do that," I said, trying not to smile.

As Katniss walked out, I went back to searching. Finally I found the familiar pants and shirt and changed into them.

I went into the bathroom and scrubbed the gel out of my hair under the tub water and then dried my hair. I combed it, but left it still a little messy. I liked it like that.

I walked out into the living room, where Katniss stood staring out the window in her vintage-looking blue dress. Her hair was down, because Cinna had not yet come in to braid it.

I walked up behind her and put my arms around her. She gasped.

"It's just me," I said, and she relaxed. She leaned back in my arms, and we just stared silently out into the distance.

The opening of an elevator door startled us out of our "moment". We turned to see Cinna walk in.

"Alright, fire girl, have a seat," he said, patting one of the chairs in the living room behind us. Katniss gave a light laugh and sat down. Cinna began to work his magic and braid her hair.

"So how are you, Peeta?" asked Cinna, looking up only for a moment to look me in the eye.

"Great, actually. How 'bout you?" I asked.

"I'm good, I'm good…" he said. He focused back on his work.

In a matter of minutes, Katniss's hair was all done up as it was a month ago.

A strange feeling overcame me. My heart swelled, and it felt almost as though I wanted to cry as I looked at the beautiful girl who sat before me.

I think I know what it was now. It was that she was absolutely perfect in every way. Beautiful, kind, brave.

And she was mine.

"Are you ready to go home?" asked Cinna.

Both of us nodded.

We headed into the elevator and went downstairs to the main floor, where Cat, Jade, Haymitch, and Effie waited for us all.

"God, Katniss, you look beautiful," said Cat. Katniss smiled.

"You too, Cat. And you, Jade," she said.

Jade gave a smile.

"Thanks," she said.

Haymitch took a deep breath and sighed.

"Ready?" he asked.

We all nodded.

"Then home we shall go," he said. We walked out to the hovercraft that would take us all and drop us off at our home districts.

**Katniss POV**

We boarded the hovercraft together and sat down.

I was going to see Prim. And Gale. And my mother.

And it would only be 3 hours or so until I did.

Suddenly something hit me. We were going to go to our home districts. Cat and Jade are both from different districts.

"When will we see Cat and Jade again?" I asked, looking over at the two girls who had become my best friends.

Haymitch thought for a moment.

"Well there are houses ready for you all in the Victor's Village. So…maybe in three days?" he said. That sounded about right.

Cat was going to be dropped off at her home first, in district 3.

We talked and talked until we got there.

We landed behind their Justice Building.

"See you in three days," I said to Cat.

She got up and hugged everyone before she was led into her district by Peacekeepers.

The hovercraft took off again, and we headed to district 2.

**Peeta POV – 2 Hours Later**

"We're in district 12," said Cinna.

My heart skipped a beat. We were in district 12 now. Home.

The hovercraft landed behind the Justice Building, and I could see people standing out in front of it.

Cinna and Haymitch stayed on the hovercraft while Katniss, Effie, and I got off.

"When will I see you two again?" asked Katniss.

"You'll see me in three days," said Haymitch.

Cinna was silent.

"I'm not sure. Soon," he said. Something told me it would be at least a month though.

Katniss threw her arms around Cinna, and he hugged her tight.

"I'll miss you," she whispered.

"I know. I promise we will talk soon," he said. Katniss nodded and finally let go.

The hovercraft door closed, and it started up and headed off.

Katniss shook her head lightly as though to shake off the sadness, and Effie lead the two of us into the Justice Building.

We got to the doors where you would go inside at, right in front of the square.

"Alright, you two stand on either side of the doors. When I welcome you, come on out," Effie said. We nodded.

Katniss stood on the side of the doors opposite me, and Effie walked out onto the stage.

"Hello District 12! Wow…how amazing it is to be here. I couldn't be any more proud to represent the district bringing home TWO victors this year," Effie said.

The citizens of 12 roared their approval in reply.

"And I have them here with me today," said Effie.

12 went absolutely wild. I could feel my throat tightening in a good way.

I looked up at Katniss, who was crying but smiling like an idiot. She wiped away her tears and winked at me as Effie welcomed us.

"So I present to you…the victors from district 12…the star crossed lovers…Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!"

To our surprise, the doors opened by themselves, and the two of us walked out into the open, hand in hand.

District 12 was screaming, crying, smiling, and laughing as we threw our joined hands up in the air as we had at the tribute parade.

I scanned the crowd for my family. I found them. My mother, father, and two older brothers. My mother and father had smiles on their faces, as did my brothers. They waved at me, and I waved back.

I looked around for Katniss's mom, sister, and Gale.

They stood nearby, Prim high up on Gale's shoulders.

Gale sort of glared at me, but Prim waved and smiled at me. Katniss's mother mouthed the words "thank you."

Finally everyone quieted down.

"Is there anything you'd like to say?" asked Effie.

Katniss nodded.

She stepped up to the microphone.

"Prim, I told you I would win," she said with a smile.

Prim laughed and smiled at Katniss.

The crowd went crazy again, and soon enough it was time for everyone to return home. Including us.

"I'm going to go home to my bakery, but I'll come by in a few hours," I said to Katniss as we headed down to the middle of district 12. She nodded.

"Alright see you then," she said, planting a kiss on my lips and hugging me tight.

I stroked her braided hair for a moment, and then the two of us headed to our one true home.

**Prim POV**

Mother, Gale, and I stood in our living room, waiting for Katniss to walk in. I know she had to do some things before she could come home.

Suddenly, I heard the door open. And for the first time in a month, I saw my sister standing in front of me.

I ran up to Katniss, and she picked me up in her arms and held me very tightly. I wrapped my arms and legs around her, and we just stayed like that for a while.

When we finally pulled away to face each other, I noticed tears in her eyes along with the smile I had always thought was beautiful.

As a tear slipped down her cheek, I wiped it away with my thumb.

"Don't cry. Everything's alright now," I said with a smile. Katniss laughed and hugged me again.

"I missed you, little duck," she said.

I smiled.

"I missed you too. I love you," I said.

"I love you too," she replied.

She set me down gently and turned to Mother and Gale.

Gale wrapped his arms around Katniss and just held onto her, his eyes closed.

When they pulled away, he said something that will stick in my head forever.

"You did it, Catnip."

Both of them laughed, and Katniss turned to our mother.

Mother pulled Katniss in for a tight hug, and Katniss for once actually hugged back.

"I love you so much. I am so sorry for pushing you away all these years," Katniss said.

My mother looked at her dead in the eye.

"I love you too, darling. Nothing has ever changed that. And don't you apologize for a thing," she said with a smile I had not seen in years.

She hugged Katniss again, and the four of us sat down at our kitchen table.

"I've got something for us," Gale said.

He held up a finger, and went to go get something from the other room. He came back with strawberries, goat cheese, a few loaves of bread, and what looked like a vat of soup from the Hob. It was a real feast.

I got up and got out 4 bowls. Mother ladled the soup into them, and we sat down to eat dinner.

**Katniss POV – 1 Hour Later**

I had just finished cleaning the dishes when Peeta, and Peeta alone, walked in.

I gave him a quick hug and kiss before introducing him to the family.

"Mother, Prim, Gale, I'm sure you know who this is," I said with a smile.

"Well duh," said Gale with a laugh. He extended a hand to Peeta.

"Nice to meet you," he said. Peeta shook his hand with a smile.

My mother walked up to Peeta with a serious expression.

"Thank you for everything you've done for Katniss. We really appreciate it," she said.

Peeta nodded. "I'll do anything for her."

Peeta turned his attention to little Prim, who was tucking in her blouse.

"Thank you for taking care of Katniss in the arena, Peeta," Prim said. To Peeta's surprise, she ran up to him and hugged him tight.

But Peeta didn't hesitate to hug her back.

The five of us just talked for hours it seemed like. I could tell my mother and Prim really liked Peeta. Gale liked Peeta too, but I could tell he was a little bit jealous. Nevertheless, the two of them made friends really easily and very quickly.

By the time Peeta went home, night had fallen outside. Gale decided to go home to his family, who was undoubtedly waiting for him.

Now my mother was asleep in her bed, and Prim and I lie down snuggled close together, a blanket over us.

"Did you really see Daddy?" asked Prim.

There go my emotions.

"Yeah, I did," I said. Prim sighed.

"I wish I could have gotten to talk to him," Prim said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

I wiped it away and kissed her on the forehead in an attempt to calm her down.

"He asked me to do something for you," I said, remembering his request.

Prim waited for me to do it.

"Deep in the meadow

Under the willow

A bed of grass

A soft green pillow

Lay down your head

And close your eyes

And when they open

The sun will rise," I sang to Prim as I stroked her hair. She had closed her eyes, and her breathing was slowing down. I could tell she was falling asleep.

"Here it's safe and here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from any harm," I continued.

I sang and sang until I reached the end of the song.

"Here is the place where I love you," I sang, and the song was over. Prim was fast asleep in my arms.

I thought of when I had sung that to Rue as she died. My heart yearned for her, but I was alright, because I had Prim.

I looked up at the stars through the cracks in our ceiling. I could see a constellation; it was called the Little Dipper.

I sighed and closed my own eyes, snuggling closer to Prim.

Within moments, I was asleep.

**Jade POV**

I lay out in the open meadow, Clove lying next to me. We were both gazing up at the stars.

"I missed this," Clove said in a soft, tired voice.

I smiled.

"Me too," I said.

We stared up in silence, and my eyes started to droop.

I turned to Clove, who was already asleep, her arms forming sort of a pillow.

It was quite warm outside, so I figured we should be fine to sleep out here.

Before I fell asleep, I saw the constellation called the Little Dipper in the sky. I don't even know why, but for some reason it was comforting.

I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

**Cat POV**

My brother and I stood gazing out at the stars from inside our house.

"I am so proud of you," said Frankie, clapping me on the back. I turned to him with a smile on my face.

"I bet Mom and Dad are too," I said quietly, remembering the day we lost our parents.

Frankie nodded.

"I bet they are," he said.

We stood in silence for a while.

"It's getting late, Kitten. I think we should go to bed," Frankie suggested.

I nodded. I was getting tired already; it had been a long day.

We headed to the back room of the house, where both of our beds were.

We lie down.

"Goodnight," said Frankie.

"Goodnight," I replied.

I closed my eyes. I knew I would probably have a nightmare, but I would be ok as long as I knew it wasn't real when I woke up.

Within moments, I was asleep.

**A/N: So I know this probably wasn't the best chapter. My apologies. I think I am going to leave this as the end of the story itself; it doesn't really have anything else at the end of Hunger Games. That all comes in in Catching Fire.**

**I will do the missing chapters from the beginning though. That will consist of the train ride to the Capitol, the interviews with Caesar BEFORE the Games, and the tribute parade. **

**I do hope you enjoyed this though. Please review! :D**

**-Brave**


	15. Missing Chapters  The Train Ride

**A/N: HELLOOOO!**

**So I had a really crazy idea.**

**I want to write a crossover between Hunger Games and Mean Girls. Katniss and the gang meet the Plastics and Cady and stuff. LOL I don't even know where that idea came from but it sounds funny. Should I do it?**

**Anyhow, here's missing chapter one: the trainride. Dun dun dun.**

**Tori POV**

I sat silently next to my fellow tribute on the train. We were headed for the Capitol, where our last few weeks before the Hunger Games would begin.

We had just eaten breakfast, and Marvel and I were sitting in the chairs in the main car of the train. And he would. Not. Shut. Up.

"I can't wait for this, man! We've been working all our lives for this…I am so gonna win. I am so gonna win," Marvel kept saying.

Unlike him, I was not out for blood. Though I was a Career, technically, I cared more about my family and making it home to my sister than I cared about killing people. But Marvel, the thick airhead that I am ashamed to call my fellow tribute, wanted nothing more than to kill people and couldn't WAIT to get in the arena.

So as he kept talking about how "he was the man" and that "he would beat everyone else to pulp" with that ridiculous smile on his face, I was starting to get a little annoyed.

Finally, after about a literal hour of listening to him brag, I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Marvel, would you please SHUT YOUR MOUTH! DO YOU REALLY THINK I CARE?" I screamed at him, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

He stared at me for a moment and I sat down, still fuming inside.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," he said under his breath.

Without remembering that it was illegal, I turned and punched him square in the jaw. Then, without even looking to see if he was alright, I ran back to my room.

As I shook with a tightened throat, I thought to myself.

_Cold as steel Tori. Cold as steel. Tough as steel and concrete mixed together. Emotionless. Come on Tori, man UP! _I yelled at myself.

In the midst of my doing so, sleepiness overcame me and I let sleep swallow me whole as I tried to get over my rage.

**Jade POV**

I stared down at the food on my plate. I wasn't hungry at all, even though I haven't eaten since last night. In fact, the food was making me feel sick.

Cato must have noticed that something wasn't right. He set his fork down and looked over at me with worried eyes as he swallowed.

"You ok?" he asked quietly. No one but our mentor was supposed to know that he had a softer side to him.

I looked up at him and sighed. I shook my head.

Cato outstretched his hand to me. I looked up at him, confused.

"Come on," he said. Cautiously, I took his hand, and he led me into his room and had me sit down on the bed. He took a seat next to me.

"Alright. What's going on in your head?" he asked me. His usually piercing eyes had somehow softened so that gazing into them was almost relaxing. **(A/N: Ok, I officially ship Jato.)**

I sighed again but was able to find the words to say.

"At first when I was called, I thought this would be ok. But now…I'm starting to get a little iffy on that," I said.

Cato just listened.

"I already miss Clove," I said quietly. Cato sighed.

He took my hand again and set it on his thigh. With his free hand, he put a finger under my chin and lifted up my head gently so he could look me in the eye.

"Do you know how proud she is of you?" he asked me. That caught me off guard. I knew Clove was my best friend and all but…what was there to be proud of in me?

I cocked my eyebrow, and Cato continued.

"She came to say goodbye to me. She said that I better well take care of you, to quote her," he said, which brought out a laugh in me. Of course Clove would get all protective like that.

Cato smiled too, but then returned to seriousness.

"But she also said to tell you that she is proud of you. For going into this without hesitation for your brother. Without being scared or weak," Cato said.

My heart ached badly as I pictured Clove saying that. But nonetheless, I couldn't help but smile.

**Cat POV**

I lay in the bed of my car on the train. My heart was pounding a thousand miles an hour. My stomach was very woozy and uncomfortable. My throat was bone dry. I was sweating buckets.

I had literally made myself sick from worrying.

There was a knock at my door, which made me jump.

"Cat?"

I recognized the voice as my fellow tribute, Graham. The one who was going to kill me in a few weeks. Wonderful.

"What do you want?" I said, my voice raspy.

"Our mentors wants to talk to us," said Graham.

I sighed and decided that they would probably at least have something good to say to us that might help.

I climbed out of bed, fighting to keep down my breakfast due to my rocky stomach.

I followed Graham out into the main car. Our mentors, who both looked to be about 50 or so years old, sat in the chairs across from us.

We sat down and faced them, and just waited for them to talk.

"Hello. My name is Beetee," said the male mentor. Beetee. Interesting name.

"I'm Wiress," said the female mentor. We all shook hands, and then Graham jumped right in on asking questions.

"What's the first thing we need to do?" he asked hurriedly. He was literally almost bouncing in his seat.

"Calm down there Tiger," Beetee said with a slight chuckle. "We do have a few weeks, you know."

"But the more you can tell us the better we will do," I said.

Wiress and Beetee exchanged glances. They sort of nodded to each other and then turned back to us.

"There's going to be a lot of good supplies in the mouth of the Cornucopia. My advice is to grab what you can as you go towards the Cornucopia, but do NOT get yourselves into the bloodbath that usually occurs. Neither of you are built for that," said Beetee.

We both nodded.

"Make allies. Or try to…" Wiress said, trailing off.

"Try to in the Training Center. That's the best time to do it," finished Beetee.

We both nodded. I remembered the girl from District 12 who volunteered for her sister. Maybe I would be lucky enough to be her ally.

"And when you're actually in the arena…first thing is shelter," said Wiress.

Again we nodded.

For nearly the rest of the train ride, we listened to Beetee and Wiress tell us how to survive in the arena.

**Beck POV**

I sighed as I stared out the window of the train. Most tributes are probably begging their mentors to help them and give them advice right now. But for some reason, I don't even have the energy to do that. I can barely get up and walk as it is.

I look to my right and see my fellow tribute, a redhead with a sly demeanor, doing the exact same thing. Suddenly, a young man, who I recognized immediately as Finnick Odair, a previous victor in the Hunger Games, walked into the train car and sat down in front of us.

Neither of us acknowledged him except for a glance his way.

Finnick sighed.

"Let me tell you a story," he said.

That's not something you usually hear from a mentor. Therefore, it catches both Redhead and I off guard. We turn to Finnick to see what he has to say.

"I know how emotionally difficult this is. Trust me, I really do. I've been there. I've been there twice," he said. I cocked an eyebrow, since he was only in the Games once.

"Thus, my story," Finnick said with a sigh.

"It was only five years after I was crowned victor that the love of my life, Annie Cresta, was reaped for the Hunger Games. And it was all my fault. I defied the Capitol, and that was how they punished me. By taking her," said Finnick. Our attention was focused solely on him. **(A/N: Basing this on MainstayPro's (YouTube) "Finnick and Annie Web Series".)**

"She made it out of there alive. But she will never ever be the same. For years after she was crowned victor, she never spoke a word. She was mentally disoriented. Wasn't all there. The arena did it to her," Finnick said. Well that is encouraging.

"Every day we would sit at the shore where I first met her, and I would bring a flower to put in her hair and a bunch of rope that I tied into a fishing net. And for a long time, that's all we did," Finnick continued.

"And then one day, she spoke. She said 'Hey Finnick'. That's all she said. But it was more than enough. It was a sign of hope. I wasn't going to give up after that," Finnick concluded.

Both of us just stared at him, waiting for him to keep talking.

"The main point I am trying to get across is that I have been in your shoes. I know what it feels like. But don't give up hope, ok?" he said.

I swallowed hard and nodded.

There was silence for a while, but then Redhead spoke up.

"So…help us. How do we find shelter?" she asked.

With a deep breath, Finnick began to tell us everything he knew.

**Robbie POV**

I paced the train car that was my room anxiously. How on earth was I going to survive this? Oh yeah, there's no way I was. Might as well consider myself dead here and now.

A knock at the door makes me jump and almost scream.

"Can I come in?" asked the girl tribute who came with me to this place. Unfortunately for me, she was someone I knew.

I turned to the door.

"Yeah…yeah go ahead," I said nervously.

She opened the door and closed it behind her quietly.

"Did you want any breakfast?" she asked me kindly.

I sighed.

"Couldn't eat any if I tried," I said. She nodded, seeming to understand.

There was a rather awkward moment of silence, and then the girl sat down on my bed.

"Are you alright?" she asked me.

I sighed.

"No of course not," I answered honestly. I never lied to her, no matter how bad the situation was.

There was more silence as I tried to think of something to say.

"Why did it have to be me and you? I wish it were another girl…not that I don't enjoy your company. I just don't want you to have to go through this...you don't deserve it," I said, burying my head in my hands.

Allison sighed.

We weren't total best friends or anything. We just shared something in common. We were both parentless. We had talked a couple of times in school, and for some reason I felt a sort of closeness.

"Maybe this is for the better. I mean, I don't have anyone left who I love. So…this might not be that big of a deal," said Allison.

She was right in her case. She really had no one left. She sort of wandered from place to place in town; no one ever really looked out for her since she had no siblings or parents.

After another moment's silence, she spoke up again.

"Robbie…I really don't think we should be allies in the arena. It would hurt too much to see you get killed," said Allison.

I nodded…I knew where she was coming from.

"Then let's have some quality time now," I suggested. Allison nodded.

And so we did. The next few hours were nothing but talking between us two. We ignored every knock at the door and just talked.

**Andre POV**

My sister and I sat in her room on the train. She was shaking and crying, and I was holding her as tight as I could.

"I don't wanna do this. I'm not ready," she said through her tears.

I closed my eyes as I held on tighter.

"I know Amelia, I know. None of us are ready. Well, except for the Careers maybe," I said at a failed attempt to comfort her.

"What if you die?" she asked me. The thought of having to leave her hurts too much for me to sit here and contemplate.

"Then you win those Games and go home to Mom and Dad. They'll be proud of you," I said, answering with the first thing that came to mind.

"What if I die?" she squeaked.

That thought hurts even more than the previous one.

"Let's not worry about the what ifs. Let's just think about the here and now. Right now, we are on the train to the Capitol, and we have a few hours to do what we want. So let's spend them wisely," I said.

Amelia looked up at me, no longer crying, but confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked me.

"Remember that math test that you're supposed to have on Wednesday?" I asked her. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"I'm going to help you study, ok?" I said.

"But why…? I'm not going to take it anyhow," she said.

"Because like I said. We have the here and now to worry about. And right now we have free time. Peace. So let's get our minds off of this whole Games thing, ok?" I said.

Amelia half smiled. "Ok."

I smiled. My plan was working. She was calmed down for the moment.

"Alright…what is the formula for the area of a triangle?" I asked her.

"Half the base times height," she answered.

I gave her a high five. "Good job."

And so we studied for the math test that she wouldn't even have to take for next few hours, just to get our minds off of the horrible things that were bound to come.

**A/N: TADA! :D**

**Hope this was good. by the way, I wrote a Hunger Games one-shot called "Dear Katniss Love Rue". Please go check it out! Reviews (on either one) are appreciated greatly! :D**


	16. Missing Chapters The Tribute Parade

**A/N: Hello again. I just remembered that the tribute parade was BEFORE the interviews, so I spent half of last night writing the interviews instead of this chapter.**

**I will sort of skip around from POV to POV in no particular order, by the way.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Tori POV**

Marvel and I stood in our chariot, waiting for our stylists to send us in. We were going to be the first to go in.

The sound of Panem's anthem playing told me that we were ready to go in.

"Ok guys. Remember, you're excited to be here, you love the audience, and you don't hate each other's guts!" said Glimmer, my stylist.

I nodded, and then Glimmer whipped the horses lightly. With a jolt, we headed out into the Avenue of the Tributes.

The crowd went wild at the sight of us. I could hear Caesar's voice booming through the speakers.

I smiled and waved to the crowd, taking in the excitement of it all. It was kind of cool, I have to admit.

"And here comes District 2!" boomed Caesar. I could see him in his little announcer box with Claudius Templesmith.

I turned around only for a moment to get a good look at District 2's chariot. They had sort of a Greek or Viking theme, because the boy I knew as Cato had a Viking-like helmet on. Their outfits were all gold.

**Cat POV**

"And there's district 3!" cried out Caesar as my chariot lurched forward down the Avenue. I looked up at the screens that lined the Avenue, and I was pretty happy with how I looked. Graham turned to me and smiled.

"You look great!" he shouted over the crowd.

"You too!" I replied. He gave me a quick squeeze on the hand and turned back to the crowd, accepting kisses from the ladies as he did so.

Suddenly, District 4 pulled out into the Avenue. They were the fishing district.

A young, good looking man and a sly-looking redhead were smiling and waving at the crowd, just like pretty much all of the districts had been instructed to do. Both of them seemed genuinely happy. I have to admit, the whole thing was pretty cool. Getting to look all beautiful and then being sent out for people to adore you.

**Andre POV**

I watched as chariot after chariot of tributes headed out into the famous Avenue of the Tributes. The costumes were brilliant…I was mesmerized by what I was seeing.

"You know, this part isn't really that bad," said Amelia with a slight smile. Our outfits were sort of ridiculous, but it looked pretty cool compared to what we had worn prior to today.

"And here comes district 5!"

Amelia took my hand as we headed down the Avenue, smiling and waving at the crowd like we were supposed to. Everyone seemed to get a good kick out of my dreadlocks and Amelia's beautiful long hair.

**Jade POV**

I stood next to Cato. The district 6 chariot was just now coming out onto the Avenue. The crowd seemed pleased but not extremely impressed by what they were seeing.

It was sort of hard for me to smile and wave so much. I wasn't used to fake smiling constantly.

I took a moment to just take in this place. The sound of Panem's anthem blaring, Caesar and Claudius booming out the districts and their comments, the amazing costumes everyone was wearing, and the ever-adoring crowd around us was a little overwhelming. In a good way though, I guess.

"Out comes district 7!"

I looked up at the screens that lined the whole Avenue, where the next district's tributes' faces were about to be shown. There was a nerdy looking guy with big, square glasses and a black afro and there was a beautiful blonde haired girl next to him.

Both the boy and girl seemed very confident though, so I had to admire that.

**Beck POV**

I looked around at all of the chariots and their tributes. I was not only looking for the coolest costumes, but I was also taking advantage of this time to see who my greatest competition was.

The girl from district 2 looked very lethal, and the girl from district 1 was obviously faking all those smiles. I could see that she was not in a very good mood.

"Next is District 8!" boomed Caesar's voice.

I looked behind me momentarily and saw the district 8 tributes in this blue and pink ruffle-y getup. They looked kind of childish in my opinion. Then again, with my blue almost dress-like costume and headdress, I didn't have all that much room to talk.

I almost groaned as I saw the two young tributes. The boy looked like he was no older than 12, and the girl looked as though she could only be 14 or so.

I hated seeing tributes under the age of 15 getting reaped.

"And here's district 9!"

I have to say, I really liked district 9's costumes, with the silver platinum-looking clothes they wore.

I looked around once more, but at the Capitol citizens this time.

Honestly, did they think it was Halloween every day here or something?

**Robbie POV**

Finally, all but two of the chariots had pulled out of the Avenue.

When the 11th district came out, I groaned for two reasons. One, the female tribute was only 12 years old, and she was adorable. She looked so scared. And two, the male tribute looked like he was about 18 and he was HUGE.

Their costumes though were at least reasonable. The little girl wore a blue fancy shirt with I believe overalls covering it. That's right, they were in agriculture. It made sense. The huge guy wore a white shirt showing off his muscles and overalls as well.

They honestly looked the best from a ridiculousness standpoint right now.

But nothing could have prepared me for the 12th and final chariot's tributes' costumes.

**Tori POV**

We were almost at the end of the Avenue when the final chariot pulled out.

"And here comes district 12! And…what is…are they on FIRE?" cried out Caesar.

I think every tribute's head turned back to them, and sure enough, they were on FIRE.

Katniss, I believe her name was, looked absolutely GORGEOUS what with her roman hairstyle and the flames illuminating her face. And Peeta looked quite fine if I must say so myself.

The crowd went absolutely INSANE when they pulled out into open view. The flames, it appeared, were burning a cape that they wore behind them. That made sense why they weren't getting burnt to death, but the heat must have been horrible.

"That is amazing! I have never seen anything like that before!" boomed Claudius's voice.

Katniss and Peeta were graciously accepting the kisses sent their way and the flowers that were being thrown. Katniss caught a rose in her mouth in a swift, gliding move. She was really good at this.

Finally we all reached the end of the Avenue, and Panem's anthem came to an end. The fiery capes were extinguished the second we all pulled to a stop, and it was all eyes on President Snow.

President Snow said a short introduction, and then we were released back to the place where we had come in at.

I could hear the praise that Katniss and Peeta were getting by their stylists and mentor.

**Jade POV**

I stood next to Cato below the training center. Our stylists were saying that "even though we weren't the highlight, we were second best".

Cato stared angrily at the pair who were the highlight of this whole thing.

I slapped him on the arm.

"Cato, quit it!" I said, now angry myself. He was probably scaring them to death, and for some reason I didn't like that.

With a ticked-off sigh, Cato turned back to the stylists.

We headed upstairs to our floor to settle down for the rest of the night.

**A/N: TADA! Sorry that it was so short. Review please! :D**


	17. Missing Chapters The First Interviews

**A/N: Heyyy! So I decided to get my butt in gear in do this next missing chapter. These are going to be the interviews with Caesar BEFORE the Games. I won't include Katniss and Rue and Peeta's because you already know how they go. I'll do the six Victorious characters' though. **

**K, on to the interviews. Ladies and gentlemen, CAESAR FLICKERMAN!**

**Tori POV**

I stood in line in my dress for the interview, shaking like a leaf with both rage at Marvel and nervousness.

Marvel stood behind me, as well as the other 23 tributes. Most of them looked either scared or angry.

Marvel tapped my shoulder, and I turned to him.

"What's your problem? I'm just saying, these Games are mine. I'm gonna be the victor," Marvel said.

"If you don't shut up, I will break your arm. Ok?" I said, and the look in my eyes said that I wasn't kidding.

Marvel locked his jaw, and faced forward.

"And for our first guest…Victoria Vega!" rang out Caesar Flickerman's voice.

"Oh god…" I said under my breath as I walked onstage. I shook Caesar's hand, and thankfully he didn't immediately wipe his hand off on his pants, because my hands were very sweaty.

The two of us sat down, and Caesar began his interview.

"Tell me Victoria…how are you feeling right now?" he asked me.

_Honesty Tori, just be honest, _I said to myself.

"Scared and angry," I said. The audience laughed just a little.

"And why is that?" Caesar said with a little smile.

"Well, I'm scared that I'm gonna die, for one," I said with a charming smile. That's what my mentor told me to do.

Caesar took my hand reassuringly and told me with his eyes to continue.

"And I just so happened to be reaped with the most annoying tribute in the world," I said honestly. That really got the audience rolling.

"Oh I'm sure he's not that bad," Caesar said, sort of trying to make a good impression for Marvel. I smiled again.

We waited for the audience to die down, and then Caesar continued.

"I must ask you, are you not the sister of the best friend of Alex, who died in last year's Hunger Games?" asked Caesar.

I sighed, remembering how Trina had reacted to Alex's death.

"I am, actually," I said.

Caesar sighed. "That must have been a tough time for you and your sister."

"It was, it was," I said. This was easier than I thought.

Caesar just asked me a bunch of questions about my life back home and stuff, and then finally three minutes ended. I walked offstage, feeling good about my interview.

**Jade POV**

I stood in front of Cato in line for the interviews. We had gotten in a fight last night, over what I don't remember, but it was really bad. So bad that we weren't speaking.

"Jadelynn West!"

I walked onstage to be greeted with a round of applause. I forced a smile as I sat down next to Caesar.

"Hello there Jadelynn. Such a lovely name, if I might say," said Caesar.

That brought out a real, genuine smile in me. My mother's name was Jadelynn, and everyone had always commented on how beautiful her name was before she died. So whenever someone said my name was pretty, I always felt great inside.

"Thank you. I was named after my mother," I said.

"Well when you get home from the Games, you tell her I think her name is gorgeous," said Caesar, and the crowd gave a great cheer.

I sighed.

"I wish I could. But I don't think I'll be getting home. And even if I did it wouldn't matter. My mother passed away years ago," I said, my smile fading.

Silence rang out through the theater.

Caesar took my hand as he had for that Victoria girl earlier.

"I am truly sorry for your loss," he said, and the look in his eyes said he was sincere about it.

"Tell me…how do you feel about going into the Games?" asked Caesar.

"Proud and determined," I said.

"I see. And why is that?" he asked me.

"I'm proud to be going in and fighting for my brother, who was killed in last year's Games. I regret not volunteering for him in every waking moment of my life. I am determined to hold out for as long as I possibly can," I said, being a hundred percent honest.

"I remember little Eli. Such a wonderful little soul he was. And I believe that you could make it home, Jadelynn," said Caesar. "I truly do."

I smiled again.

"Thanks," I said.

"I have one more question for you, as time is running out. Is there anyone special in your life back at home?" asked Caesar.

"Boyfriend-wise, no. but I do have a best friend. And she is the reason that I get up every morning," I said.

Caesar smiled.

"I love friendships like that," said Caesar. I smiled a little, remembering my best friend back at home.

Suddenly, the buzzer rang out, and I had to go offstage.

**Cat POV**

I watched the screens as the intimidating girl from district 2 finished her interview. I could tell that with her, they were definitely going for the sexy route rather than the childish route that I was given.

"Up next…Caterina, or should I say Cat Valentine!"

I took a deep breath and walked up onto the stage, where I was met with a round of applause.

"Great to meet you Cat. Now tell us, how are you feeling about this whole thing?" asked Caesar.

I looked at the audience. There were so many people here and it was really scary and overwhelming. I could barely talk.

"Scared," I said. I assumed that honesty would be my best route right now.

"I see. Well that's perfectly understandable. You have my condolences," said Caesar. I smiled at him.

"What's your life like back at home?" asked Caesar after a short little silence.

I sighed.

"My brother and I live together. Our mom and dad were killed years ago…but my brother and I have a pretty nice life together," I said. There's honesty for you. I've never told anyone about the fact that it was just my brother and I at home.

"Oh goodness. How terrible that must have been, losing your parents. I'm glad you and your brother have a nice life, though," said Caesar. It seemed like he genuinely meant it too.

We continued to talk about a lot of things. My life before I was reaped, my outlook on the other tributes, and stuff like that.

Finally, after three nerve-wracking minutes, I was released, and I headed off the stage.

**Beck POV**

"Beck Oliver!"

I heard my name announced and I walked onstage, giving a friendly smile and wave as I did so. I shook Caesar's hand and we sat down.

"I'm going to ask you the same question that I asked everyone else. How do you feel about this whole situation?" asked Caesar.

"I feel like I have to win. Like I'm obligated to. Or at least that I have to die with a good cause, not just killed in the middle of the night," I said.

Caesar seemed taken aback by my answer.

"And why is this, Beck?" he asked me.

"My brother Tommy died in the Games when I was twelve," I said, the hatred dripping from my voice.

Caesar closed his eyes and nodded.

"I'm sure you will not go down without a fight," he said. I nodded.

"So how did you and your parents deal with that?" asked Caesar.

I looked down at the ground, my face turning red. My throat started to get tight.

"My parents are dead too," I said. "I…I've been living on my own."

Sympathetic sounds rang out through the crowd.

Caesar put his hand over his chest as though it physically pained him to hear that.

"My heart aches for you, Beck. You're a brave young man, you know that?" he said.

I forced a smile. "Thanks."

Caesar nodded.

The final minute went by quite fast. We just talked about how I felt about the whole situation basically again and then I was released.

**Andre POV**

"Andre Harris!"

Giving Amelia one last reassuring look, I walked onto the stage with a small smile on my face, as my mentor had instructed me to do.

Caesar shook my hand, and the interview began.

"Now Andre. I have to say, when I watched the reaping, my heart ached. Your little sister being reaped and then you volunteering. You two going in as a pair to go into the Games…how did you feel?" asked Caesar.

"Scared out of my wits. I didn't want to let her go in alone. I would have volunteered for her if I could have," I said. "So I figured my best bet was to go in with her. at least now I can protect her."

Caesar nodded. "That you can do."

I nodded as well.

"How did Mom and Dad react?" asked Caesar.

"How every parent would react…they were sad and scared. It must be two times worse, having both your kids go into the Games. But I will do everything in my power to get Amelia back home alive," I said. I said that to charm the audience and reassure my parents and sister.

Caesar nodded again.

"I know you will," he said.

After a polite pause, he continued on to another subject.

"Any special girl back at home?" asked Caesar.

"Nope," I said, and that was the flat out truth.

"Really? Well, with a good looking guy like you, there's got to be a girl crushing on you," he said, joking around with me. I smiled.

That's what I have always loved about Caesar. He tries to make things better for you, ease the pain out of the whole situation. Almost like drawing out the venom after being stung by a tracker jacker.

We talked about my thoughts on the Capitol so far, and we were exchanging friendly banter by the time the 3 minutes was up.

**Robbie POV**

"Robbie Shapiro!"

I turned to Allison, and she gave me a comforting smile as I walked up onstage.

Caesar shook my hand, and the two of us sat down.

"How are you Robbie?" he asked me kindly.

"I can move and I can talk, does that count?" I asked, my voice shaking.

The crowd laughed, and I knew I was off to a good start.

"Are you scared?" asked Caesar.

"Yes, very, to be honest," I said, and we went into a serious mode.

"Well don't worry, I don't bite too hard," said Caesar. The audience laughed and I did too.

After they calmed down, Caesar went on.

"So what's your life like back at home?" asked Caesar.

"Nothing too exciting…it's just me and my brother Arthur. We get along really well. Honestly, I like my life at home," I said, telling nothing but the truth.

"I see. We seem to be having a lot of the 'kid and their brother' families this year, don't we?" asked Caesar. The crowd shouted out their responses.

"I'm glad to hear that you have a nice life back home. Is there a special girl out there too?" asked Caesar.

I sighed, wondering whether or not I should say yes.

"Yeah, there is actually," I said, immediately thinking of Allison.

Caesar smiled.

"I figured there would be, with a charming boy like you," he said.

I laughed. Caesar was good at this.

"Yeah. She's a beautiful blonde. She's got a way of making every situation better. We're not really boyfriend and girlfriend, she's just a friend that I can rely on and is always there for me," I said. I tried to picture Ali's reaction right now.

Caesar smiled.

"I love that. Friendship is such a wonderful thing, isn't it?" asked Caesar.

I nodded. "It is, it is."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the buzzer went off, signifying the end of my interview.

With a final shake of Caesar's hand, I walked offstage.

**A/N: And thus concludes the Hunger Games/Victorious crossover.**

**Wow. This has been SO much fun. I loved this.**

**I don't think I will be able to do a Catching Fire or Mockingjay sequel, at least not for a few months. School is pretty demanding right now. I hope that everyone really enjoyed this book though!**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed or just read this story. It means the WORLD to me.**

**Until next time, my friends.**

**-Brave**


	18. Two Missing Moments

**A/N: Hello! So there are two missing moments from this story that were requested by a good friend of mine, knd number 7 on here. The first one is Amelia's interview, and the second one is a night where Cat and Rue sleep together in the arena. Both of which I completely agree were very necessary and I shouldn't have left them out.**

**So I'll start with Amelia's interview.**

**Amelia POV**

My brother walked out from his interview, and I knew it was my turn next. I was sweaty and shaky and just wanted out of this whole situation.

"You're gonna be alright. Just answer honestly," said Andre. He picked me up and hugged me.

I heard my name being called onstage, so he set me down and adjusted my dress before sending me up there.

I walked with shaky legs and sat down in the plush white chairs where the interviews were taking place.

"May I just say very quickly that you are simply adorable! Don't you all agree?" said Caesar, asking the audience. They roared their approval, and I looked down with a smile as a blush crept onto my cheeks.

"Thank you," I said quietly, causing the audience to swoon again.

"So tell me Amelia…how are you feeling?" Caesar asked me. I could tell he was trying to be nice and gentle.

"Not very good, honestly," I said, looking up at Caesar.

"Aww. And why is that?" asked Caesar.

"This whole thing is so scary…I'm not ready for it. I mean…I'm only twelve…and I don't want my brother to die!" I said. I took a deep breath to try and calm down.

"Oh, I know sweetheart. Speaking of your brother, how did you feel when he volunteered so that he could go with you into the Games?" asked Caesar.

I closed my eyes for a moment and thought of Andre's smiling face.

I opened them and answered honestly.

"Grateful that I would have someone to go through this with. But then my feelings started to change…I realized that if I were to go home, he would have to die. And if he were to go home, I would have to die. I don't want to die and I couldn't never live with myself knowing that I made it out and he didn't," I said, and I felt like I was about to start bawling.

The crowd swooned again, and for once I thought the Capitol really had hearts. I looked out to see tears in some of their eyes.

"I completely understand. But I'll tell you what. I bet you your brother would be proud to keep you alive and get you home safely. I know he won't go down without a fight. And I know you won't either," said Caesar. For some reason, that was comforting to me.

"Thanks Caesar," I said.

He smiled and nodded.

For the rest of the interview, we just talked about my life at home. What I liked to do in my down time, who my friends were, what I thought of my school. It was quite nice, just getting to be open about it. And Caesar, I swear, is one of the few people of the Capitol who had a real genuine heart.

Sooner than I would have liked, the buzzer went off.

"I'm afraid we're out of time. My best of wishes to you and your brother, Amelia," said Caesar. He gave me a comforting hug before I left the stage.

The second I got to my brother, I hugged him tight and never wanted to let him go.

**Missing Moment 2 – Rue and Cat**

**Cat POV**

"Goodnight guys," said Katniss from a limb above us. Everyone chorused their goodnights back to her, and we settled down for what was bound to be another cold and lonely night.

I lay in the dark for a while, gazing up at the clouded night sky. I didn't even know if it was the real sky or not. I didn't know if the moon up in that sky was the same moon that I saw every night back in district 3. A part of me really wished it was.

I almost fell off of my tree limb when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to the side, expecting to find a Career with a knife poised in their hand. Instead, I found little Rue, my first ally through this whole thing.

She looked at me with scared eyes.

"I don't feel safe sleeping alone," she whispered, her voice raspy and ragged.

I opened up my arms in an invitation to her, and she gladly obliges. She cuddled up close to me, and we snuggled down in the sleeping bag.

We were silent for a little while, and finally I decided to speak up.

"I don't like this," I said, even though that was kind of stupid to say, seeing as no one liked this.

Rue sighed. "Me either."

"It's so weird…having to fear for your life every time you try to go to sleep. I keep suspecting every sound I hear. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig. I keep thinking that it's a Career," I admitted. My whole body shook, and I tried to control it so that it didn't bother Rue.

"Cat, it's ok," she said reassuringly. She burrowed deeper in my arms in an attempt to keep me from shivering.

"I'm scared too. The whole thing…it's just…I don't even know how to describe it," said Rue. I nodded.

There was a little break of silence before Rue started talking again.

"You know that we can't all win right? What are we going to do if it comes down to us?" she asked, her voice breaking.

My eyes started to water at just the mere thought of that. Because I didn't know what I would do if it came down to that.

"Then we'll be defiant. Remember what Peeta said? 'I want to show them that they don't own me. That I'm not just a part of their Games.' We can do that too, Rue, y'know?" I said with as much confidence as I dared. I knew the cameras were probably focused on us.

Rue sighed.

"You're right," she said.

She yawned very widely and then closed her eyes.

"Goodnight, Kitty Cat. That's what I'm gonna call you. Not in front of the others though. Just between you and me," said Rue. I sighed. She was too adorable.

"Alright little Rue Flower. Goodnight," I said, kissing her forehead.

I knew that Rue was asleep when she didn't reply.

I closed my eyes as well, and let the exhaustion from the day pull me into a light sleep.

**A/N: And it's over. Thank you all SO much for reading. Thank you all for reviewing, it means a lot to me.**

**So…I guess this is goodbye…**

**Until next time. -Brave**


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